SEARCY, Arkansas – The Ouachita Baptist University baseball team secured its third consecutive Great American Conference series win with a pair of road victories over Harding on Saturday by final scores of 12-2 and 6-5.
The Tigers improve to 11-6 overall and 8-1 in GAC games following the weekend sweep over the Bisons, which is the second three-game sweep for the Tigers this year. Harding drops to 10-6 overall and 4-5 in GAC games.
In Saturday's first game, the Tigers jumped out to a big lead early with four runs in the second and five runs in the fifth off of nine combined hits in the rally. CW Schrader had the big blow in the second, a two-run double, while Tallon Heine highlighted the third with a three-run homerun, his second of the season.
Ouachita went up 10-0 in the sixth, and Harding avoided the game ending early with two runs across in the bottom of the sixth. However, the Tigers regained their double-digit lead with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth off of just one hit. Ouachita pitcher Cameron Marchant held Harding scoreless off just one hit in the seventh and eighth innings to give the Tigers the run-rule victory.
Cooper Timmons (2-1) earned the win for the Tigers, giving up just two runs off six hits with five strikeouts and one walk in the first six innings.
Wyatt Core accounted for four of Ouachita's 13-hits in the win. He went 4-for-5. Isaac Nowell and Schrader each had two hits.
In the series finale, the Tigers came-from-behind to earn the sweep. Harding scored one in the first, and then Ouachita later evened the score with one in the third. The Tigers took the lead in the fourth with a pair of runs on back-to-back RBI singles from Schrader and Cade Burris.
Two more came across in the fifth, again on RBI singles, this time by Dustin Bermudez and Jud Arrington.
Bermudez' run-producing day was not over, as he gave Ouachita a 6-4 lead with a solo homerun in the top of the seventh, which proved to be needed with the Bison plating one in the bottom of the seventh to finalize the scoring and give Ouachita the one-run victory.
Arrington led the Ouachita offense, going 3-for-3. Bermudez and Burris each had two hits in the win.
Beau Burson (2-1) earned the win for the Tigers after giving up four runs off seven hits with six strikeouts and only one walk in the first five innings. Garrett Hermes held the Ouachita lead with a scoreless sixth inning. After a successful outing in game one of the double header, Marchant came back out in game two, this time to earn the save in the seventh.
The Tigers wrap up their current eight-game road stretch this Tuesday with a non-conference game against Christian Brothers, set to get underway at 2 p.m. in Memphis.
