ADA, Okla. — Southern Nazarene fell 9-7 to East Central in their first Great American Conference game on the road on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Crimson Storm tallied 10 hits in the ballgame, but couldn't slow down the Tigers at the plate as ECU ripped off 13 hits on their home field. Brandon Rezek earned his first loss of the season on the mound for the Storm.
 
Jefferson Harris got the start on the bump for SNU as the senior struck out seven batters, but allowed four runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings of action. Zack Birkle and Tyler Thompson each provided an inning in relief for SNU as well.
 
Shelby Reese led the way at the plate for Southern Nazarene as the senior went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Garrett Perez also had a solid outing at the dish for SNU as he finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored as well. Tanner Ladon went 1-for-3 with two RBI's and one run scored, while Jack Campbell finished 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI as well.
 
Cole Lee, Emilio Escobedo, Mason Haydock, and Connor Dayton each recorded one hit for SNU at the plate as well.
 
Southern Nazarene took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second when Campbell's double scored Jarrett Phillips. East Central came back in the bottom of the third and pushed three runs across the board to take a 3-1 lead, but SNU quickly responded with two more runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game 3-3.
 
The Tigers re-gained the lead in the bottom of the sixth with one run to make it 4-3, before Lee's single in the top of the seventh scored Perez to tie things up at 4-4. ECU scored one more run in the bottom of the seventh, and the Tigers pushed four more across in the bottom of the eighth to extend it to 9-4.
 
SNU tried to make things interesting in the top of the ninth by scoring three runs, but the Tigers slammed the door and earned their first Great American Conference win of the season.
 
Southern Nazarene will close out their series with East Central tomorrow in a doubleheader in Ada. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. in the opener.