RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech baseball team completed a three-game sweep at home against Southwestern Oklahoma on Saturday as the Wonder Boys won both ends of their doubleheader with the Bulldogs. Both games were effectively won by the Wonder Boys in their final at-bats as they scored 10 runs total in those final innings.
SATURDA GAME ONE
In the opener, Arkansas Tech held a 2-0 lead through the first six innings of action as starter Emiliano Mata was pitching a gem of a game against the Bulldogs. Through those six innings, Mata allowed just three hits and had seven strikeouts.
The two runs scored in support of Mata were driven in off the bat of Grant Jones as he had a RBI single in the second and a solo home run in the fifth.
In the top of the seventh, Mata returned to the mound, but gave up a run on one-out solo home run to make it a 2-1 game. An inning later, with Mata out of the game, the Bulldogs tied the game at two-all with a run in the top of the eighth.
The Wonder Boys would respond in their half of the eighth and took a 4-2 lead thanks to a clutch two-out, two-RBI double off the bat of Keaton Ranallo. Prior to that, Nick Jones had led off the inning with an infield single and was promptly pinch-ran for by Aaron Hogue.
A sacrifice bunt by Brandon Bunton and an intentional walk to Logan Schwenke put runners on first and second with one out. A wild pitch soon followed to move both into scoring position. The Bulldogs picked up a big second out in the next at-bat, but Ranallo was still able to come through.
Now with the lead, the Wonder Boys sent Simon Murray back out to the mound for the ninth after he initially came on for Mata in the eighth. Murray would retire the first batter faced but allowed a walk to the next batter. That prompted the Wonder Boys to bring in their closer, Mason Griffin.
Griffin would need just three pitches to end the game as he induced a 6-3 double play.
SATURDAY GAME TWO
In the seven-inning nightcap, SWOSU took their first lead of the series with two runs in the top of the second. An inning later, the Bulldogs had added a run to go up 3-0.
That score held until the bottom of the fifth when the Wonder Boys finally cracked the scoreboard thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Brendyn Bard.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys' offense erupted for eight runs on nine hits as they slingshot themselves into the lead, 9-3. That major offensive inning saw the Wonder Boys send 11 batters to the plate. Of the nine hits in the inning, four went for extra-bases as all four doubles.
The first of those was a double off the wall by Bard. Cole Dawson later doubled home two runs followed by a RBI double by Sawyer Duddleston. Logan Schwenke then had the final double of the inning as he doubled down the right field line. Also registering a RBI base hit was Ranallo as he had a two-run single.
Wonder Boys open series with 7-1 win
The Arkansas Tech baseball team got their weekend series at home against Southwestern Oklahoma off to a great start as they won the opener on Friday night, 7-1.
In the opener, the Wonder Boys got things going early and scored twice in the bottom of the first. In the half inning prior, Tech starter John Gray worked through a laborious frame, but did not allow a run to score thanks, in part, to a big strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play that negated a leadoff walk.
Starting things for the Wonder Boys Nick Jones as he singled through the left side. Two pitches later, the bases were loaded as Shane Poe hit a single up the middle followed by hit-by-pitch to Logan Schwenke. Christian Olea then drove in the two runs on a single to left-centerfield. Keaton Ranallo then drew a walk to re-load the bases with still one out.
The Bulldogs would limit the damage to just the two runs as they induced an inning-ending double play in the next at-bat.
After not scoring in the second, the Wonder Boys were back at it in the third and plated two more runs. In that inning, Brendyn Bard had the big hit as he delivered a two-RBI double to left field, scoring Poe and Olea, who both singled earlier in the inning.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys pushed their lead out to 7-0 with a three-run inning. The first two runs of that frame came on the strength of an opposite field two-run home run off the bat of Schwenke. Ranallo then followed two batters later with a RBI double to left-centerfield.
Staked to a 7-0 lead, Gray would pitch through the fifth inning to put himself in line for the win before handing the ball over to the Tech bullpen.
A total of three pitchers would handle the final four innings for the Wonder Boys as Mason Willis pitched the sixth and seventh, Will Horton the eighth and Jackson Sorey the ninth.
SWOSU would manage to push across a run in the eighth to draw the score to its final of 7-1.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys will next be in action this coming Tuesday as they will travel to Jackson, Tenn. for a mid-week game at Union. First-pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
