The Bison baseball team beat undefeated Delta State 12-2 on Feb. 27, giving Harding its first victory over a No. 1-ranked team since the Bisons defeated Delta State in 2003.
“Our confidence is rooted out of something that cannot be taken from us, which is the hundreds of hours of hard work we put in all offseason,” junior Jeremy Bohnett said.
The Bisons did not score until the bottom half of the fourth inning when they scored four runs, followed by an additional run in the fifth inning. Delta State also scored one run in the fifth inning and an additional one in the sixth.
Senior Billy Ninemire said that it was hard to pinpoint the reason the Bisons jumped into the lead.
“Baseball is crazy and very unpredictable,” Ninemire said. “It was really just an all around team effort.”
Junior Eric McCarver said he agreed that no one would have been able to predict this lead.
“I believe it happened that way because we play the game the right way: unselfish and hard,” McCarver said.
The Bisons maintained and multiplied their lead in the seventh inning, when the NCAA’s 10-run rule came into effect and ended the game. This mercy rule says that a game will be called if a team is at least 10 runs ahead of the other team by the end of the seventh inning.
McCarver said the team won because everyone played for each other, not because of any of their individual efforts.
“If you play for your teammates next to you, individual accomplishments will work themselves out,” McCarver said.
The team’s next challenge will be a three game conference series with Southeastern Oklahoma State March 2 and 3. Freshman Collin Campbell said he believes this week’s win will boost the team’s confidence. He said he hopes this momentum will carry them to pick up another conference series win.
“We are all one team,” Campbell said. “The coaches, hitters, infielders, outfielders, catchers and pitchers, we are all one together. We all work hard each and every day and that is what it takes to win.”
