BETHANY, Okla. – The Southern Nazarene Baseball team wrapped up their weekend series with Arkansas Tech on Saturday with a couple of tough losses. ATU carried their momentum from Friday into Saturday as they beat the Crimson Storm by scores of 15-6 and 16-2.
Game 1
The contest started in favor of SNU as the Crimson Storm built an early 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. Senior Clay Lockett smacked a solo shot over the left-center wall to jump out on the Wonderboys. Soon after, ATU hit a stride as they crossed the plate five times by the top of 4th. SNU turned around to combat this with a Jarrett Phillips solo homerun, his fourth of the season, and a Brian Brown score off a wild pitch to slim the deficit to just two.
In the 8th, Austin Glock walked with loaded bases and brought EJ Taylor across the plate. A second consecutive walked ushered Eric Gutierrez home to bring the tally to 10-5. SNU scored once more in the bottom of 9th by way of a Jarrett Phillips single, but the Wonderboys lead was too great as they fell 15-6.
Jarrett Phillips was the most consistent for the Crimson Storm in Game 1 as he tallied a 2-for-2 outing at the plate, two RBI's, and one homerun. Eric Gutierrez went 2-for-4 with a couple scored runs while Austin Glock finished 1-for-3 with an RBI. Other notables were Clay Lockett and Tanner Bare who collected one RBI a piece.
Payne Maga spent the most time on the bump as he saw action through 4.0 innings and struck out a team-high four batters. Patrick Hine (L, 0-5) pitched through 2.2 innings, collected a strikeout, and allowed three runs. Jacob Johnson, Brett Rexroad, and Kasen Jackson would also get a crack at the Wonderboys as Rexroad allowed the most runs at five. Rexroad also tallied a strikeout through the 12 batters he faced.
Game 2
Much was the same in the series finale as Arkansas Tech managed to rack up eight unanswered runs by the 5th inning. A Clay Lockett double into right-field brought Colby Entwistle home with hope that some life would arise in SNU. Then like clockwork, Jarrett Phillips doubled down the left-field line to score Lockett and bring the count to 9-2.
ATU quickly shut the door on the mounting comeback as the Wonderboys piled on seven more runs to have the score read 16-2 at the conclusion.
From the plate, Clay Lockett made good on three of his attempts as he scored a run and collected an RBI. Jarrett Phillips was the only other SNU player to tally an RBI as he finished 1-for-2 batting. Other notables were Tyler Broyles who went 2-for-3 and Colby Entwistle who finished 1-for-4 with a scored run.
Pitching struggles continued for the Storm as Triston Graves (L, 1-4) manned the mound through 3.1 innings, collecting one strikeout and facing 19 batters. Elijah Brady saw action through 1.2 innings, struck out one, after facing 11 Wonderboys. Brandon Rezek and Kasen Jackson rounded off the rotation for SNU as each pitched for inning and faced a combined 14 batters.
Southern Nazarene will have the week to break as they will travel to Searcy next weekend to take on Harding, March 26-27. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
