BETHANY, Okla.—After coming away with a walk-off win in the series opener yesterday, Southern Nazarene (9-9, 1-4 GAC) dropped both games of Saturday's double-header to East Central (5-11, 2-4 GAC), falling 9-6 in game one, before dropping a low scoring 3-2 game in game two.
Game 1:
Things quickly unraveled for the Crimson Storm in game one. They allowed an eight spot in the second inning and never recovered, leading to a 9-6 win for East Central in the opening game of the double-header.
Southern Nazarene simply could not get out of that tough second inning. It seemed like the Storm had gotten out of the jam allowing just 4 runs, but a slow roller between the circle and third base turned into an inning extending single after the umpire called the ECU batter safe on a bang-bang play at first base. That infield hit scored a fifth run for East Central. They would add three more a couple batters later when Jami Watson cleared the bases on a 3 RBI double to left field.
The Crimson Storm got two runs back in the bottom half of the inning after Rachel Weiss singled home both Natalie Jones and Hailey Evans. ECU pushed their lead back to 9-2 with one run in the third.
SNU's offense struggled through the middle innings as nine straight batters were retired between the third and sixth innings.
Trailing by seven runs in the final inning, Southern Nazarene's offense finally came to life, but the deficit proved to be too much. The Storm rallied for four runs in the inning after loading the bases with no outs, but a pop-out and strikeout left the game-tying run in the on-deck circle.
By the end of the game, SNU had out-hit ECU 12 to 8, but could not capitalize on those baserunners.
Hailey Evans led the way with 3 hits for SNU, including a pair of doubles. Kennedy Sherer and Natalie Jones each notched 2 hits a piece.
Game 2:
Game two featured much less offense as the teams combined for just x hits in the game. Each team scored in the first inning, but the runs were limited from that point forward as the two runs, both of which came from East Central on their way to the 3-2 win.
East Central scratched across one run in the first inning with a squeeze bunt, but Southern Nazarene responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to a pair of ECU errors, to take the lead.
The Crimson Storm held onto the lead until the third inning when an RBI groundout tied the game at 2. The Storm did a good job limiting the damage from there and stranding the go-ahead runs at second and third base.
SNU struggled offensively the rest of the way. Hailey Evans singled to lead off the third inning, but that was their final hit the rest of the game as they accounted for just 3 hits in the contest.
East Central scored the winning run in the fifth inning after a lead-off single was followed by an RBI double.
In Southern Nazarene's final at-bat, an error put the tying run at first base, but a pair of strikeouts and a lineout quickly thwarted that threat and gave East Central the 3-2 victory and series win.
The Crimson Storm will hope to bounce back this Tuesday as they travel to Shawnee, Oklahoma to take on rival Oklahoma Baptist in a double-header. The Bison are off to a strong start this season at 17-4 and are receiving votes in the NFCA Coaches Poll. Last season, Southern Nazarene defeated the Bison three out of four times, with all three wins coming by a final score of 1-0, including in the GAC Quarterfinals. The double-header is set to begin at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday night in Shawnee.
