While students were beginning their spring breaks on Friday, March 8, the baseball team was preparing for their GAC doubleheader against East Central University at Jerry Moore Field.
“Every college athlete knows going into a season the time and sacrifice it takes to play at this level,” senior third baseman Billy Ninemire said. “The majority, if not all of us, would rather be playing a sport we love rather than having a break from school.”
Junior Matt Calhoun paced the Bison offense during the series, going 8-for-10 with three runs, four RBI and a home run. Junior Trent Wooldridge was 6-for-12 with three runs and three RBI. Harding hit .385 in the series against East Central with 10 or more hits in each game. The Bisons also drew nine walks and were hit by five pitches.
Harding won the three-game series against East Central 4-3 on Saturday, March 9.
Harding’s next action was March 12 against 26th-ranked Arkansas Tech in a non-conference game at Jerry Moore Field.
The Bisons entered the match with a four-game winning streak and a 28th ranking but fell to Arkansas Tech 2-1. Harding (13-5) lost for only the second time in 14 home games this season. Arkansas Tech (19-7) improved to 8-0 on the road.
The Bisons’ next gameplay was March 15 and 16 in Magnolia, Ark. for GAC play against Southern Arkansas University. Both teams were nationally ranked, the Bison’s ranked 28th, and the Muleriders came in at 26th in the latest Collegiate Baseball News poll.
They started the series Friday at 6 p.m. and ended on Saturday with a doubleheader.
Southern Arkansas’ David Harris hit a grand slam with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the 26th-ranked Muleriders past 28th-ranked Harding 13-11 on Friday in the first game of a three-game Great American Conference series.
In the doubleheader Saturday against SAU, Harding (14-7, 7-5) tied a school record for hits in a conference game with 23 in game one, the highest total of the season. Each of the Bisons’ top three hitters, Kyle Atkins, Wooldridge and Ninemire, had four hits. Ninemire and Calhoun each had five RBI.
“We saw areas we needed to improve in and went to work in changing them (to defeat SAU),” Calhoun said. “We know we have a good team we just missed executing plays against Tech. We play them later in conference and can’t wait to get the opportunity to play them again.”
Harding won the opener 13-11 and fell 2-0 in game two. The victory for Harding was its first in Magnolia since 2006, a string of 10 games.
“We would have liked to take more than one game, but getting one was an affirmation of our talent,” senior pitcher Lucas Waddell said. “SAU is a great ball club and now knowing we can compete with a team like that should dispel any tentativeness we had about our capability as a team.”
The Bisons are currently 14-7 overall and 7-5 in GAC play.
The team played their fourth straight road game Wednesday at nationally-ranked Delta State in Cleveland, Miss. They lost the game 2-1 despite only allowing four hits.
Harding will host Arkansas-Monticello in a double header beginning Saturday at noon and in a third game Sunday at 1pm.
