Clarksville, Ark.-Hardin-Simmons University handed Ozarks a 8-2 setback in game one and then won a pitcher's dual 3-2 in the nightcap Saturday to complete a three-game American Southwest Conference sweep.
Hardin-Simmons (8-5) starting pitcher Kyle Barton (2-0) held the Eagles (3-9) to just four hits and did not give up a run until the fifth inning in the seven inning game one contest.
The Cowboy offense supplied Barton with a 7-0 lead after three innings, and the senior right-hander did the rest, holding Ozarks to one hit through four. Hardin-Simmons put five runs on the board in the second to gain the game’s momentum. In the fifth, Andrew Teaster tripled in Scott Dietz and the Eagles got another run when Rusty Cordell knocked in Teaster.
Todd Koch (0-2) went five innings before being relieved by Bobby Osburn. Koch struck out five.
The final game of the series turned into a pitcher’s dual between Ozarks’ Bruce Cameron and Hardin-Simmons’ Tim Kriegel. Cameron tossed eight innings and struck out six, while Kriegel went nine innings and fanned 11. Each pitcher gave up seven hits and two earned runs. Ozarks’ offense, however, stranded seven runners, while the Cowboy offense left just three on base.
The Cowboys went up 2-0 in the third inning before Ozarks countered with a run in the fourth. It was a Freddy Flores RBI single that put the score at 2-1. Hardin-Simmons got the run back in the bottom half of the inning to go up 3-1. The Eagles’ final score of the nine-inning affair came in the sixth when Cory Briggs was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Koch then delivered a double to score Briggs and the Eagles were within a run of tying the game. However, that would be the only run they could muster as the offense recorded just one more hit the rest of the way.
Cameron fell to 0-1 on the season. Andrew Teaster and Koch each went 2-for-4.
Topics: Athletics