Clarksville, Ark.--The Eagles completed a three-game sweep of Austin College after notching two wins against the Kangaroos on Saturday afternoon in American Southwest Conference play at Lonnie R. Qualls Field.
The Eagles (15-6, 4-2) opened the double-header with a 9-5 win and then blasted the visitors 16-5 in the second game while posting their fifteenth overall win, a new school record since joining the ASC in 1996. Ozarks scored in conventional fashion in the first inning in game one. Caleb Hilton led off the inning with a single. Kyle Hudson followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance Hilton to second. Brett Hays then knocked a single to center field. After Hays stole second base, Todd Koch smashed a single to left field knocking in two runs. The second inning saw Ozarks score two more runs, both of which were unearned after an Austin error. The Kangaroos (3-15-1, 0-6) would storm back in the top of the third to tie the contest at 4-4. However, Ozarks had an answer of their own in the bottom of the third powering their way to four runs to hold a 8-4 lead. Koch and Robby Finnell hit back-to-back singles to set up an opportunity for Justin Brown to add onto the lead. Brown did just that, hammering a homer into the trees over the left field fence. It was his fifth homer of the season. Ozarks’ final run of the third came when Hilton smashed his fourth home run of the season to the opposite field. Anthony Brandon gave the Eagles their last run of the game in the sixth inning after singling in Hilton. Ozarks totaled 12 hits in the game, with four players recording multiple hits. Hilton went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI. Hays finished 2-for-4 and Koch and Brown each ended the game 2-for-3. Brown had a team-best 3 RBI. Koch added 2 RBI. Bill Martin (1-0) received the win after coming in to relieve starter Brian Heckmann. Martin pitched three and one-third innings and struck out two for his first collegiate victory. In game two, Ozarks reached their highest scoring output (16) of the season in ASC play. The Eagles held a 8-3 lead after three innings of play. In the first, the Eagles scored two runs on five hits, and in the second, scored four runs on one hit. The third inning proved to be beneficial for Ozarks as they scored two more runs on four hits. Ozarks’ lone hit of the second inning was when Finnell cleared the bases on a double but was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a triple. Tyler Gideon gave the Eagles two additional runs in the fourth with a two-RBI single. Finnell pounded a homer in the fifth inning to give Ozarks a 13-5 advantage. In the sixth, the Eagles scored three runs on five hits. Heckmann went 4-for-5 to lead Ozarks. Finnell finished with 5 RBI. Heckmann, Brown and Gideon added 2 RBI apiece. Curt Dixon (4-0) received the win after pitching six innings and striking out two. The Eagles travel to Marshall, Texas, to face East Texas Baptist University in a three-game series on March 24-25.
Topics: Athletics