Log in

Wonder Boys advance to GAC Tournament semifinals; beat SWOSU 3-2

Posted

RUSSELLVILLE — Survive and advance is the name of the game when it comes to postseason tournament time and the top-seeded Arkansas Tech baseball team did just that on Friday night as they beat No. 8-seed Southwestern Oklahoma at home by a score of 3-2 in the opening round of the 2021 Great American Conference Baseball Tournament.
The win advances the Wonder Boys (27-14) to the semifinal round of the tournament where their next game will take place on Monday, May 17 against No. 5-seed Arkansas-Monticello. That game is scheduled to take place at Clyde Berry Field on the campus of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. The Boll Weevils advanced to this semifinal matchup with a convincing 16-5 road win at No. 4-seed Northwestern Oklahoma.
In the game on Friday night, the Wonder Boys received another dominant pitching performance from Patrick Miner. The lone unanimous First Team selection, Miner began his start emphatically as he struck out the side in order. That set the tone for Miner to go on to notch nine strikeouts and put him just two Ks away from the century mark on the season. With 98 strikeouts to his credit, Miner now owns the second-most strikeouts in a season in ATU baseball history and is three Ks away from tying the single-season record set by Zach Skelton in 2016.
Miner, who also went on to win his ninth game of the season, received run support in the third and fourth innings. After leaving four base runners on through the first two innings, the Wonder Boys plated a pair in the third inning. That inning was led off with a single up the middle by Matt Robbins. Following a strikeout for the first out, Robbins advanced to second on a wild pitch. A second out followed, but that's when Trace Maddux hit a clutch triple into the opposite game in left-centerfield to chase home Robbins. Not long later, Maddux crossed the plate himself on a wild pitch.
The fourth inning started with another leadoff single, this time to right-centerfield off the bat off Kandon Bennett. Drew Bailey followed with a single through the left side and the two were moved up 90-feet on a groundout by Elijah Boyer. SWOSU picked up the second out of the inning on a popout to second base and looked as if they might escape any damage once more. Robbins drew a walk however to extend the inning. That led to the Wonder Boys scoring their third and final run of the game as Bennett scored on wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat.

In the next half inning, SWOSU finally started to get to Miner some. The Bulldogs (21-18) scored twice that inning to pull to within a run at 3-2. The first run came on a leadoff home run. Following that, the Bulldogs' next two batters reached on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Those two runners were then moved over 90-feet on a successful sacrifice bunt. That provided the opportunity for a sacrifice fly in the ensuing at-bat to push across the second run.
Miner would get the next batter out to escape any further damage. With the score still 3-2, Miner came back out for the sixth inning and picked up his final two strikeouts as hung another zero in the run column that frame.
Nick Kovar was then on in relief of Miner to start the seventh. Kovar made quick work of the Bulldogs in that frame and registered a pair of swinging strikeouts. In the eighth, Kovar issued a leadoff walk but then struck out the next two batters. A second walk extended the inning and put the potential tying run in scoring position, but on the pitch thrown, Kovar was out of the inning as he induced a foul out to his batterymate Robbins.
The Wonder Boys were unable to add any insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, but Kovar remained solid on the mound as he retired the first two batters. A hit-by-pitch to the Bulldogs' leadoff hitter and GAC Player of the Year, Alex Bedard, extended the inning and the game. Bedard then promptly stole his 31st base of the season to put himself as the potential tying run in scoring position. Kovar proceeded to strand Bedard at second as he got a flyout to right field to end the game and put the final touch on his three-inning save.



X
X