ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Baptist University baseball team opened the Great American Conference portion of the 2022 schedule on Saturday with a pair of wins over Southern Nazarene at home by final scores of 4-1 and 5-4.
In the series opener, the Tigers (5-4, 2-0 GAC) got on the scoreboard first with an RBI single by
Jud Arrington in the bottom of the third inning, and then went up 3-0 in the fifth on a two-run homerun by
Wyatt Core. It was Core's first career homerun.
Core added his third RBI of the game in the seventh with a sacrifice fly to put the Tigers up by their final margin of 4-1.
Hunter Gautreaux (1-1) earned his first win of the season with just one run surrendered off six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in the first seven innings.
Garret Hermes picked up his first save of the year, keeping the Crimson Storm (1-10, 0-2 GAC) scoreless on two hits with three strikeouts in the last two innings.
In the second game, Ouachita went up early with three runs in the second inning on an RBI double by Arrington, a sacrifice fly from
Pierce Mitchum, and an RBI single by
Noah Bachman.
SNU took a 4-3 lead with two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, three of those runs coming on extra base hits.
Ouachita took advantage of a passed ball and a fielding error to score the tying run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings in the scheduled seven-inning game.
In the eighth,
Tucker Anderson got on base with a pinch-hit walk.
Zach Kuykendall pinch ran for Anderson, advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a long fly out, and then scored the game-winning run when
Isaac Nowell sent a long fly ball down the right field line that just stayed fair for the victory.
Cooper Timmons (1-1) got the win in relief, holding the Crimson Storm scoreless and hitless in the top of the eighth.
Carter Wade threw well in relief also, giving up only one hit and no runs in the sixth and seventh innings, plus one out in the fifth. Timmons, Wade, and starter
Beau Burson combined to strike out 12 SNU batters.
The Tigers go for the sweep on Sunday with the final game of the series starting at noon.
