Bears split with Arkansas Baptist
Published 12:00 pm Tuesday, March 4, 2014
SUMMIT – The Southwest Bears scored on an error in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat the visiting Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes 3-2 in the first game of their doubleheader Sunday afternoon. The Buffaloes came back to pick up the split with an 11-6 win in the nightcap.
With the split, the Bears record is even at 6-6 on the season. Arkansas Baptist now stands at 10-4.
The Bears took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in the opener. Taking first base after being hit by a pitch, Anthony Durr advanced to second on a Collin Carroll walk and scored on a Payden Lynch single to centerfield. Carroll moved to third on the play and then reached the plate on Tyler Towles’ base hit to left, the first of his three in the game.
The Buffaloes tied the game at 2-2 with solo runs in the top of the second and third and the game remained deadlocked until the Bears’ half of the 10th. Zach Jones reached base via a walk to get things started. Moving to second on Andrew Hulbert’s sacrifice bunt, Jones then moved to third on a Logan Ferrell ground out and raced home for the winning run following an error by the Arkansas Baptist first baseman.
Brady Badon pitched two innings in relief to record his first win on the season (he also has three saves). Badon struck out two batters while issuing one base on balls. Chase Ladd started the game, giving up two unearned runs on six hits striking out four. Jared Simon followed Ladd, striking out one and walking two in two innings of work.
Ferrell had two singles in the game while Durr, Trent Gordy and Jones also hit safely.
The Bears were down 4-0 before making it 4-1 in the fourth inning of game two. On base with a two-out walk, Kendrick Hodges moved to second on a balk scored on a single by Towles.
After seeing the Buffaloes go up 7-1 in the top of the fifth, the Bears responded with a run in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-2. Leading off with a single to left, Trey Wynn moved to third on Cole Guyton’s double and advanced to home on a Patric Devlin sacrifice fly.
The visitors added three more runs in the top of the sixth to push their lead to 10-2, but the Bears were not quite finished. Carroll reached on an error and Hodges walked to start the bottom of the inning and both scored on Towle’s double to left. Hulbert, on base as a courtesy runner for Towles, scored four batters later when Guyton singled past the shortstop. Payden Lynch, on base following an error, reached home and made the score 10-6 when the next batter, Devlin, singled to center.
That would prove to be it for the Bears as Arkansas Baptist added another run in the top of the seventh and the Bears went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Austin White took the loss for the Bears, giving up four runs (three earned) in just over an inning of work. He allowed one hit while walking four. Jacob Savoy. J. D. Stockstill and Jade Whitten also pitched. Austin Knight had a single in the game.
Southwest returns to action Thursday when they travel to Pensacola, Fla., to face Pensacola State College and Faulkner State College. Action is set to get underway at 1 p.m.