Wonder Boys win both ends of Saturday DH; sweep series at East Central

ADA, Okla. — The Arkansas Tech baseball team secured their second conference sweep of the season on Saturday as they won both of their games on the road at East Central. The Wonder Boys have to come-from-behind in the opener but won 8-5 and then left little doubt in the second game, winning 10-1.
GAME ONE
In the opener, ECU jumped out to a 3-0 lead through the first inning of play as they were able to take advantage of pair of walks to start the frame. Both of those initial walks came home while ECU added another later in the frame.
That early 3-0 score held until the fourth when the Tigers scored twice more, giving them a 5-0 lead.
The Wonder Boys would be held scoreless until the seventh inning when they scored three runs. The first run was driven in Luke Ray as he singled in Drew Vega who walked earlier in the inning. Later in the frame, Simon Murray came through with a clutch hit as he drove in a pair of runs on a single to right.
Neither team scored in the eighth as the game went to the top of the ninth with Tech still trailing by two.
Resilient, the Wonder Boys would strike for five runs on three hits to take an 8-5 lead. Ray started the inning off with a leadoff walk and two batters later, the Wonder Boys had the bases loaded following singles from Tyler Sardelli and Cole Dawson. Murray then came up and had a productive out as he drove in Ray on a groundout to third.
The Tigers then elected to intentionally walk Christian Olea to once more load the bases, this time with one out. That decision proved to be unfavorable for the Tigers as Sawyer Duddleston tripled home all three runs, flipping a one-run deficit into a two-run lead. Kirby Jenkins then had a line drive sac fly to plate a run of insurance.

In the bottom of the ninth, East Central threatened early with consecutive singles to start the inning, but Tech closer JT Cafferty was able to get the next three Tigers in order to secure his third save of the season
GAME TWO
In game two, the Wonder Boys' offense was rolling from the outset as they totaled 17 hits in the game. In the first inning, Tech scored a pair of runs on five hits to jump out to a 2-0 lead. ECU was able to get a run back in their half of the first, but it would be the lone run scored the remainder of the scheduled seven-inning game.
The Wonder Boys then came back in the second and put the game essentially away with five runs on six hits in the frame. In that inning, Olea had a two-RBI double and later scored while Kolby Webb had a two-RBI single.
Tech then added single runs in the third, fourth and seventh innings to bring the score to its final of 10-1. The run in the third was a solo home run from Murray, the run in came on a single to short by Dawson and the run in the seventh came on a single by Duddleston.
UP NEXT
The Wonder Boys will play their mid-week game at home this week and will take on Union on Tuesday afternoon. First-pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. from Baswell Field.