Box Score ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Ouachita Tigers opened the 2015 baseball season with a 6-4 win over the St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Sunday.
Connor Eller earned the win for Ouachita, pitching eight innings and striking out six batters.
After Eller struck out the first batter of the game and forced the next two to groundout,
Parker Norris led the Tigers off with a triple to right center field. After
Drew Feuerbacher was hit by a pitch,
Jace Melby singled to left field to score Norris and give Ouachita the 1-0 lead.
St. Edward's was held scoreless over the first three innings of the contest, in which Eller did not give up a hit. In the bottom of the third, Ouachita built on its lead with a RBI-triple by
Reuben Miller. Feuerbacher scored on the play, after he singled up the middle to start the half-inning.
Down 2-0 in the top of the fourth, the Hilltoppers responded with a two-hit, two-run inning to tie the game. Four batters consecutively reached base safely, and Kevin Mayo topped off the rally with an RBI-double to left field.
The Tigers immediately took back the lead in the bottom of the inning, however, when Feuerbacher crossed home plate for the second time on a passed ball. St. Edward's tied the game once again in the top of the fifth inning after an RBI-triple down the right field line by Cutter Runte, and the Hilltoppers took a 4-3 when Runte later scored on an error.
After a scoreless sixth and seventh inning, the Tigers claimed the lead for the third time in the bottom of the eighth. The inning started with a double to left field by
Will Wallace, and after Miller was walked and
Matt Sinclair advanced the runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt,
Tyler Faught singled home Wallace and Miller to give Ouachita a 5-4 lead.
Preston Speers doubled to left center on the very next at bat, allowing Faught put the Tigers ahead by two runs with one inning to play.
After Eller's eight-inning performance,
Lance Cullum stepped on the mound for Ouachita. Cullum recorded back-to-back strikeouts and forced the final batter for St. Edward's to fly out to center field to close the game.
The Tigers recorded 10 hits on the day, while Eller limited the Hilltoppers to only five. Norris and Speers each led Ouachita with two hits, while Faught finished with a game-high two runs batted in.
The Tigers (1-0) will host St. Edward's again on Monday, for a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
