BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene dropped the final two games of the series with Arkansas Tech 15-7 and 19-6 at Feland Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Crimson Storm had their work cut out for them all weekend as the GAC leader Wonder Boys stayed hot at the plate in both games of the doubleheader.
Jackson Berry got the start on the mound in game one for Southern Nazarene, as the senior was one of six pitchers that made an appearance. Berry tossed 5.0 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out three Wonder Boys.
Brandon Rezek took his first loss of the season as he allowed five runs on one hit in the game.
Noah Serrano,
Zach Birkle,
Triston Graves, and
Landon Walker each saw action on the bump as well.
The Crimson Storm got their bats clicking as they finished the contest with nine hits against Arkansas Tech. Three players finished with at least two hits for SNU as
Emilio Escobedo led the way at the dish, going 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBI's, and a run scored.
Shelby Reese and
Garrett Perez each finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored while Reese also finished with an RBI.
Jack Campbell went 1-for-3 with an RBI while
Cole Lee finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Storm as well.
Cobi Ceron provided the Storm's ninth hit as well.
Arkansas Tech's bats picked up right where they left off on Friday as the Wonder Boys scored two in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead. The Crimson Storm wasted no time in responding as Campbell's sac-fly scored Perez, and Escobedo's three-run homer to left field gave SNU a 4-2 lead after one inning. The Wonder Boys tacked on two more runs in the second to tie the game 4-4.
After a couple of scoreless innings, Lee's sac-bunt in the bottom of the fourth scored
Elijah Brady to give SNU the lead back at 5-4. Later in the same inning, Reese's single to center field scored Perez to extend their lead to 6-4. The Wonder Boys had a monster sixth inning as they scored nine runs to take a 13-6 lead into the seventh.
Tech added another run in the seventh and eighth innings to increase their lead to 15-6, and the Storm were able to tack on one more in the ninth, but the Wonder Boys closed the door to take game two of the series.
Cole Lee got the start in the final game of the series as the sophomore tossed 4.2 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits.
Tyler Thompson provided 1.0 inning in relief and allowed five runs on five hits while
Triston Graves,
Blake Wichert, and
Landon Walker each made an appearance as well.
Southern Nazarene was unable to slow down Arkansas Tech's offensive attack, as the Wonder Boys racked up 19 hits in the game. The Crimson Storm were able to accumulate nine hits in the final game of the series but committed three errors in the field.
Cobi Ceron led the way at the plate for Southern Nazarene as he went a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored.
Mason Haydock finished 1-for-1 with three RBI's, while
Garrett Perez went 2-for-4 with a couple RBI's.
Shelby Reese and
Tanner Ladon each finished 1-for-3 at the dish as Ladon also scored two runs.
Southern Nazarene got on the board first in the bottom of the second with Haydock's double that scored Ladon and Ceron. Arkansas Tech came back in the top of the fourth to score two runs and tie the game 2-2 before Escobedo scored on an error and Perez's double knocked in Haydock to give SNU the 4-2 lead.
The Wonder Boys' bats got hot in the top of the fifth as they pushed five runs across to take a 7-4 lead, and they added four more runs in the sixth to extend their lead to 11-4. Perez singled in the bottom of the sixth to score Ladon, and Haydock's sac-fly scored
Jackson Hopking to cut the lead to 11-6. That's the closest SNU came however, as Tech scored eight runs in the top of the seventh to close out the game and series with the Storm.
