ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita baseball team used a six-run third inning and six innings of quality relief from
Austin Bagnall to knock off Southern Arkansas on Tuesday at home by a final score of 7-4.
SAU (29-17) struck first with single runs in the first and second innings before Ouachita (22-22) rallied to send 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third inning and ultimately take a 6-2 lead.
Isaac Nowell started the third-inning rally with an RBI single followed by a two-run home run by
Wesley Scott, his seventh round-tripper of the season.
Garrett Graham and
Jaxson Jester hit back-to-back RBI doubles later in the rally before
Austin Gathright collected an RBI single in his second at bat of the inning to account for the final run of the frame.
The Tigers added their final run in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back sac bunts, including a squeeze bunt by
Reece McWilliams to plate
Kyndall Cassidy, who led off the inning with a walk.
Austin Bagnall (2-4) came in to the game in the second inning and besides giving up one run in that first inning of work, held the Muleriders to just one other scoring opportunity before being pulled in the eighth inning. Bagnall ended up giving up just one run on eight hits with four strikeouts and only two walks in 6.1 innings of relief.
Braden Tucker retired two straight to finish the eighth to preserve the lead.
Tag Pacot came on in the ninth with a five-run lead and ended up giving up two SAU home runs before finishing out the game.
Tuesday's game marked the final non-conference contest of the season for the Tigers. Ouachita hosts cross-street rival Henderson State this weekend in a three-game Great American Conference series. Both teams will be looking to improve their positioning for the conference tournament starting the next weekend in Enid, Oklahoma.
