ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita baseball team secured a berth into the Great American Conference Championship Tournament with a pair of victories over Southern Nazarene on Sunday on Senior Day.
The Tigers (25-18, 17-12 GAC) won game one 8-0 behind a combined shutout from
Chase Oberle,
Hayden Childers, and
Cameron Marchant. In the second half of the twinbill, the Crimson Storm (12-33, 6-23 GAC) scored first, but the Tigers answered with crooked numbers in their final innings to win 6-2.
In addition to punching their postseason ticket, the Tigers also secured their sixth GAC series win of the season.
Oberle, Childers, and Marchant combined to give up just five hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in the shutout. Oberle (6-4) tossed the first seven innings with seven of those strikeouts and just one walk given up.
Offensively in game one, Ouachita hit for double-digits for the 21st time of the season with 12, led by three-hit outings from
G. Allen and
Tallon Heine. Up 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers broke the game open with four runs, highlighted by back-to-back home runs from
Michael Quinones and
Cade Burris.
Dustin Bermudez homered later in the game, a two-run shot in the sixth to finalize the scoring.
In game two,
Cooper Timmons (4-3) moved into a three-way tie for the career wins record at Ouachita, which is 26 now shared by Timmons, Steve Smith (2005-08), and Davis Ward (2011-14). Timmons threw five innings against SNU, giving up just one unearned run on four hits with five strikeouts and just one walk allowed.
Cameron Marchant and
Braden Tucker preserved the victory in the final two innings. Marchant kept the Storm scoreless and hitless in the sixth. Tucker gave up one run on one hit with one strikeout and one walk in the seventh.
Offensively, SNU took advantage of a pair of Ouachita errors to score its first run in the top of the fifth to break a scoreless tie.
For the second time of the day, the Tigers hit back-to-back home runs and scored four runs in the fifth inning. This time, it was
Collin Liles and Bermudez that went back-to-back.
Cade Burris finished the inning with a two-run double.
Bermudez added two more RBI with bases-loaded single in the sixth inning.
Prior to the double header, the Tigers recognized eight seniors, all of which played a part in Sunday's wins. The senior class includes
Cameron Marchant,
Dustin Bermudez,
G. Allen,
Cooper Timmons,
Tallon Heine,
Hayden Childers,
Cade Burris, and
Michael Quinones.
Ouachita looks for its third GAC series sweep of the year with game three against SNU on Monday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Rab Rodgers Field.
