WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Baseball won a second consecutive Great American Conference series by defeating Arkansas-Monticello 9-2 in Sunday's rubber match. The Dawgs got solid pitching performances and put pressure on the Boll Weevil defense all afternoon in the win.
The result pushes SWOSU back to .500 in league play, where they sit 7-7 on the year. Overall, the Bulldogs move to 15-8.
For a third straight game in the series, the offense came ready to produce by scoring in the first inning. The lineup tacked on single runs in the first and second innings, followed by a two-run third and led 4-0 through the middle part of the ball game.
SWOSU put balls in play all day and forced the UAM defense to make plays. Three of SWOSU's first four early runs came courtesy of Weevil blunders. Gage Gaunt doubled in a run in the third inning, representing the lone earned run from the first third of the game.
With a lead, starting pitcher Sebastian Diaz kept throwing up zeros. He pitched into the fifth without allowing a run, striking out five and scattering three hits. He did walk three and hit another two but pitched successfully around those free passes. Conner Watson entered in the fifth and induced a double play to get Diaz out of his jam and maintain SWOSU's shutout.
Watson (W, 2-2) then pitched a three-up and three-down sixth to earn the win in relief.
Following a scoreless seventh from Tyler Fortin, the Bulldog bats broke the game open with five more runs. Sean Monsour singled, Ty Eastwood doubled, and Bodi Wallar walked to load the bases with no outs. Then SWOSU got two across by handling the bat with a sacrifice fly and a fielder's choice before another UAM error let more runs come home. A Reece Burke single put an end to SWOSU's scoring.
Leading 9-0, the Weevils scored managed to score single runs in the eighth and ninth off Jackson Blue, but the damage had already been done.
Eastwood led the lineup with a 3-for-4 day at the plate – his second three-hit game of the series.
Four straight road games await the team beginning with a non-conference midweek matchup against Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday, March 18. SWOSU will then trek to the Natural State to face Southern Arkansas in continued GAC play next weekend, March 21-22.
