Clarksville, Ark.-The U of O baseball team and Arkansas Baptist College squared off in a double-header Saturday in fall games at Lonnie R. Qualls Field.
Ozarks dropped the first game 8-2 behind a 10-hit attack by the Buffaloes. In the nightcap, the Eagles pulled out a 5-4 win after 11 innings of play.
In game one, the Buffaloes scored five runs in the third inning thanks to a three-run homer by Eddy Devora. The Eagles would get one run back in the bottom of the third on Ian Bryan’s sacrifice to score Jake West. Arkansas Baptist added a pair of runs in the eighth to go ahead 8-1. Chris Driedric would cross the plate in the bottom of the eighth to end the game’s scoring. Mitchell Powers received the RBI on a double.
Ozarks collected four hits in the game. Powers finished 2-for-4.
Bobby Osburn pitched three innings and received the loss. He fanned four on the day. Travis Conner threw four hitless innings and struck out four. Jeffrey Works pitched the two innings.
In game two, Ozarks scored the game-winning run on Tony Morales’ RBI single in the eleventh. Morales drove in Kurt Shemanske, who had reached on an error. Trailing 3-0 after three and one-half innings, the Eagles generated a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth to narrow the gap to 3-2. Arkansas Baptist produced another run in the fifth to take a 4-2 advantage, but Ozarks rallied in the seventh, scoring twice thanks to a two-run single by Tyler Erickson.
Ozarks recorded nine hits in the game. Randon Webb finished 2-for-3 with an RBI. Erickson went 2-for-4 with two RBI.
Freddy Prince tossed four innings and struck out five in his college debut. Sam Brownwood and Nick Brill went two and three innings, respectively. Kevin Long and West each pitched an inning, with West picking up the win.
“I was real pleased with our pitching on Saturday,” said head coach Jimmy Clark. “We struck out 21 and walked nine. Senior Travis Conner was outstanding and we had several other guys on the mound that did a nice job. Travis threw four innings of no-hit, shutout baseball. I’d like to see him duplicate that in the spring.”
Clark played a number of freshmen during the two-game series.
“We ran several freshmen out there to give them their first taste of college baseball,” said Clark. “I thought they performed well defensively. I think they scuffled a little bit offensively. All in all, the freshmen contributed. Without a doubt as a team we have to run the bases better. We made some bad base running mistakes out there. We need to improve our bunting, too.”
Arkansas Baptist, located in Little Rock, is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and competes in the Bi-State Conference.
Topics: Athletics