WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Baseball got a Friday split against Arkansas Tech on Friday to begin Great American Conference play. The Bulldogs were outslugged 15-6 in the opener before bouncing back to earn a 6-3 win in game two.
The two teams will play the rubber match Saturday (Feb. 15) at an early 10:00 am start time to decide the series. With suspected weather in the Saturday forecast, the game was moved up two hours in attempts to get the game in.
Game One
Tech 15, SWOSU 6
11 runs by Arkansas Tech between the fifth and sixth innings all but sealed things in the series opener. SWOSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after first inning errors from the visitors and a
Connor Jeffers solo home run in the second.
Starting pitcher
Philip Sanders (L, 2-1) was managing just fine until the fifth inning when the Wonder Boys finally got to him with back-to-back-to-back home runs which gave ATU the lead.
Trailing 7-3 in the sixth, Tech tacked on another five runs on four hits to pull away.
Ayden Page (1.1 IP) and
Zane Leonard (3.1 IP) saw action in relief.
Markus Coronado also homered in the game.
SWOSU was outhit 17-13 and stranded 12 runners on base. (Tech left 10 on)
Game Two
SWOSU 6, Tech 3
Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, three straight free passes issues by the Arkansas Tech starter loaded the bases – and
Reece Burke cleared them all with a three RBI double down the left field line.
Back-to-back singles from
Eric Foufoulas and
Sean Monsour in the fourth eventually gave SWOSU another run after
Campbell Sullivan drove in Foufoulas with an RBI ground out.
Tech got within a run in the fifth before
Conner Watson entered and got out of a jam. He kept the lead intact in the sixth after pitching around a leadoff single and an error on a pickoff attempt that had the tying runner on third base with one out.
Insurance runs were added in the sixth by
Gage Gaunt whose ball to right field was misjudged with two outs, allowing a pair of Bulldogs to score.
Greg Ross entered in the seventh and earned his fourth save of the young season.
Drew Fifer (W, 1-0) earned the win with four innings on the front end. He struck out eight and walked two. Reece finished with three hits in the game to lead the lineup. Monsour went 2-3 with a run scored.
