RUSSELLVILLE — The Arkansas Tech baseball team got going in the middle innings on Wednesday and cruised to a 9-3 win over Delta State to complete the two-game mid-week sweep of their former conference rival.
The first three innings of the game saw virtually no offense on either side as there was no score through three innings with the Wonder Boys and Statesmen combining for one hit and four baserunners.
After working around a leadoff walk and a two-out double in the top of the fourth, the Wonder Boys got things going in the bottom half as they scored three runs on two hits. The inning got jumpstarted with consecutive one-out walks to Keaton Ranallo and Logan Schwenke. Christian Olea then doubled down the left field line to drive in Ranallo and Schwenke.
Olea advanced to third in the next at-bat as Brendyn Bard singled through the left side of the infield. With runners on the corners and one out, Shane Poe chased home Olea with a sacrifice fly out to right field.
The Wonder Boys then added four runs in the bottom of the sixth on the strength of four hits. A leadoff walk to Ranallo was followed by a single through the left side by Schwenke. Ranallo then scored standing up as Olea laced a RBI double to left field. Bard then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Poe collected a pair of RBIs in the spot with a two-run single up the middle. The fourth and final run of the inning saw Bard score on a wild pitch.
In the top of the eighth, the Statesmen pushed across their first runs of the game with two in the inning. The Wonder Boys, however, got both of those runs back in their half of the eighth on a sacrifice bunt RBI by Markos Cabranes and a RBI double off the wall in left field by pinch-hitter Aaron Hogue.
Delta State picked up one more run in the top of the ninth inning to bring the score to its final of 9-3.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys used eight pitchers and combined for 10 strikeouts. Half of those were logged by starter Mason Griffin, who did so in 2.0 innings of work. Jackson Sorey got the win in relief as he handled the top of the fourth inning and kept it scoreless while the Wonder Boys grabbed the lead in the bottom half.
The Wonder Boys will now prepare for a weekend conference series at home against Ouachita Baptist. Due to impending rain in the forecast on Thursday and Friday, the series is now slated to start at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening out at Baswell Field.
