WEATHERFORD, Okla. - The Arkansas Tech baseball team opened up Great American Conference play on Friday and did so with a doubleheader split on the road at Southwestern Oklahoma.
GAME ONE
In the opener, Tech fell behind 3-0 through two innings as SWOSU scored twice in the first and once in the second. The Wonder Boys would get on the scoreboard for the first time in the top of the third.
Luke Ray led that inning off with a single to right-centerfield. Sawyer Duddleston then followed with a single in a similar location, moving Ray to third. Christian Olea then drove in Ray on a fielder's choice, making it a 3-1 game.
That score held until the top of the fifth when the Wonder Boys struck for six runs on six hits. Again, it was Ray who led the inning off with a single. This time, Duddleston was the one who would drive in Ray as he belted a homer out to left field. That would be the first of back-to-back-to-back homers as Olea followed Duddleston and Kirby Jenkins followed Olea.
Jeffrey Cisneros kept things going after the Jenkins solo shot with a single to right. He was promptly brought home on a triple by Tyler Sardelli. On his triple, Sardelli also scored on an errant throw by the Bulldogs' second baseman.
An inning later, Tech got their bats going again, scoring five runs on four hits to take a 12-3 lead.
All five of the runs scored with two outs for the Wonder Boys. The first was on a balk that allowed Duddleston to score. The second was on a RBI single by Cisneros. He then scored on a single up the middle by Sardelli. Sardelli then got to third on a ground-rule double by Cole Dawson and scored from there on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Dawson would score the same way on a wild pitch.
The Bulldogs would score a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth, but a single run by Tech in the eighth and two more in the ninth brough the game to its final of 15-6.
GAME TWO
In the second game, the Wonder Boys were the first to score with a run in the top of the second. Cole Dawson led the frame off with a triple to right-center and then scored on ball four to Brendyn Bard as the pitch was wild.
SWOSU then took the lead in the bottom of the third as they cashed in a trio of walks that loaded the bases with a bases-clearing double down the left field line. They would add a single run an inning later and led 4-1 going into the fifth.
In that inning, Tech put together a two-out rally and scored twice to pull within a run, 4-3. After a strikeout to begin the inning, Duddleston was hit-by-a-pitch. Two batters later, Kirby Jenkins extended the inning on walk. Both he and Duddleston then scored on RBI triple by Sardelli.
After being held scoreless in the bottom of the frame, the Bulldogs hung a zero themselves in the top of the sixth and then added two runs of insurance in the bottom half, giving them a 6-3 lead in the scheduled seven-inning contest.
That proved to be more than enough of a cushion for SWOSU as they held Tech scoreless in the seventh, preserving the 6-3 win.
UP NEXT
In an effort to beat dropping temperatures as they day goes on in Weatherford, the series finale is being moved up two hours and is now slated to start at 10 a.m.
