SEARCY, Ark. – Southern Nazarene dropped the final two games of the series with Harding 8-5 and 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The Crimson Storm's defensive woes carried over from Friday as they committed four errors in the field in the first game of the doubleheader. Senior
Jefferson Harris got the start for SNU and tossed 6.0 innings and allowed four runs on six hits. He also struck out four Harding batters in the game as well.
Jackson Berry took his first loss of the season as he provided 1.0 inning in relief and allowed two runs. The Bisons tallied seven hits in the opener and the four errors provided eight runs for HU.
Garrett Perez led the way at the plate for SNU as he went 2-for-4 with a couple of runs scored.
Shelby Reese and
Connor Dayton each tallied two RBI's in the game as Reese finished 1-for-4 with a run scored and Dayton at 1-for-3. Harris also finished 1-for-3 at the dish for SNU.
Southern Nazarene got things started in the top of the first when Reese's groundout scored Perez to give the Storm a quick 1-0 lead. Harding came right back in the bottom of the first by scoring a couple of runs to take a 2-1 advantage. Later in the third inning,
Cole Lee's sacrifice bunt scored
Tanner Ladon to tie the game, before Reese's single pushed
Cobi Ceron across the plate to give SNU the lead once again at 3-2. Dayton's single later in the inning scored Reese and Perez to give the Storm its largest lead of the entire series at 5-2.
Harding tacked on two runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the SNU lead to 5-4, before exploding for four more runs in the bottom of the eighth to re-take the lead at 8-5. SNU had one final at-bat to get something going, but the Bisons closed the door.
Cole Lee got the start on the bump in the final game of the series as the sophomore earned his fourth loss of the season. He pitched 5.0 innings and allowed four runs on six hits while also striking out three.
Brandon Rezek also provided an inning in relief as he struck out one batter as well.
The Crimson Storm managed six hits in the final game, but couldn't push anything across as Harding scored four runs on six hits.
Jefferson Harris had half of the Storm's hits as he went an impressive 3-for-3 at the dish.
Shelby Reese,
Jarrett Phillips, and
Elijah Brady each went 1-for-3 at the plate as well.
Harding scored one run in the bottom of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. The Bisons added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 4-0, and after the Storm couldn't push any runs across the plate, cruised to the series sweep of SNU.
Southern Nazarene hits the road again next weekend for a three-game series with Arkansas-Monticello.
