MONTICELLO, Ark. — Southern Nazarene Baseball split Saturday's doubleheader with Arkansas Monticello, winning Game 1, 15-8, but dropping Game 2, 8-5. SNU tallied 16 total hits in Game 1 to earn another GAC victory. The Weevils rallied back in Game 2, brought on by a bomb in the 6th inning to give them three winning runs.
Game 1
The Storm (14-17, 6-11 GAC) jumped on the Weevils (16-12, 9-8 GAC) early, with Drake Irby igniting the action with a single that plated Weston Hicks . O'Shea Whiteside gave SNU The 2-0 lead with his single that pushed Oliver Wilson home. Cole Embrey continued the fire with a huge homerun to center fielding, earning SNU three RBIs and a 5-0 lead in the second inning.
The SNU defense kept UAM without a run through the first two innings, and continued to tack on the runs. SNU's hot-bat-holder DJ Van Atten blasted one over the center field fence to lead off the third inning, putting SNU up 6-0. Weston Hicks made it a 9-0 lead in the third inning with his home run to left center, recording SNU's third long shot of the day.
An SNU error and a UAM single in the bottom third gave the Weevils their first two runs of the afternoon to trail the Storm 9-2. The Storm countered in the fourth with two hits off the bats of Van Atten and Hicks, putting SNU ahead 11-2.
The Weevils caught some action in the fourth inning to help cut the deficit, putting up four runs to bring the game within five at 11-6.
Offensive action for the Storm stood still from the fourth inning while the Weevils continued their comeback, firing two home runs in the bottom sixth to trail 11-8.
The bats were quiet from both squads in the next two innings with the score still at an 11-8 SNU lead. The Storm grew the gap in the eighth off of two wild pitches, bumping their lead up to 13-8 with an inning and a half left to play.
An error by the Weevils and a Colby Entwistle single gave the Storm a bit of cushion in the final inning with two more runs, making the comeback a much tougher assignment for the Weevils. UAM reached three quick outs in the bottom half of the ninth and SNU opened the series with a final 15-8 Game 1 victory.
Hicks was on fire in Game 1 with 3-6 hitting , good for four RBIs. Embrey had an impressive at-bat, going 2-6 with three RBIs.
Van Atten added to the fire with his 3-6 at-bat and two RBIs.
Game 2
Game 2 saw a back and forth affair as the teams were times numerous times in the contest before Monticello erased the gridlock in the 6th inning to take the win.
After a 1-1 tie in the third inning, Cole Embrey's double put SNU ahead 3-1 in the fourth, plating O'Shea Whiteside and Drake Irby.
The Weevils took the lead in the fifth with a single and a homerun, putting them ahead of the Storm 5-3. SNU was quick to answer in the sixth when DJ Van Atten's single scored two runs to tie the ballgame once more at five a piece.
The sixth inning went all the Weevils' way as they launched a three-RBI homer to get ahead of SNU at 8-3 with one final inning left up for grabs.
The Storm weren't able to rally back and reached three quick outs, splitting the doubleheader with a Game 2 loss, 8-5.
SNU will have one more chance at the Weevils Sunday, March 26th for a single game at noon.
