Written by Russ Gray
The Bison baseball team brought in the season Monday afternoon by splitting a double header with the Drury Panthers at the first home game in Jerry Moore Field in Searcy, Ark.Harding (1-5) won the first game 11-7 and lost the second game 9-4. Both games were played in 30-degree weather, much colder than what the boys of summer prefer.Game one was high scoring as freezing conditions kept the ball from carrying far into the outfield, and pitching and fielding proved tough as teams struggled to keep runners on base.With ice in the outfield, fielders struggled to keep their footing when chasing grounders and pop flies. These conditions also caused problems with the flight of the ball, and as well as the roll of the ball in the outfield.The Bisons used five pitchers in the opener, each on a 30-pitch limit. Alex Smith (1-1) earned the win, pitching one inning and allowing no runs on three hits. Senior Troy Keith started and gave up five runs in 1 1/3 innings.With the start of the second game of the double header, much of the ice has turned to water making the field muddy. This made fielding even more challenging.Harding had seven hits in game two with Heath Boyd and Charles Bradley picking up two each. Boyd also drove in two runs. Drury had four players with two hits in its 10-hit attack.Harding is back in action with a pair of doubleheaders against Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday and Sunday at Jerry Moore Field.Harding Sports Information contributed to this report.
