Harding’s baseball team and Southern Arkansas University (SAU) finished a three-game Great American Conference (GAC) series on April 2-3, with Harding splitting the doubleheader on Sunday at Jerry Moore Field.
The Bisons (14-2) are now 7-14 in the GAC. This weekend Harding lost the opener 8-2, but came to win game two 5-3. Harding ended the three game series with a loss 5-3 on Monday, putting them in the ninth spot in the conference standings.
“We are going to have to let go of what has happened up to this point,” head coach Patrick McGaha said. “We need to really focus on one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, and just play the game that is in front of us.”
In game one SAU gained three runs in four hits to take the lead in the beginning. Harding did not have a hit until the sixth inning, by senior John Chapman and did not have any runs until senior outfielder Zac Stewart and senior center fielder Harrison Hunter brought two of Harding’s five hits in the eighth inning.
Sophomore pitcher Jackson Ward allowed three hits and one earned run in four innings of relief. Senior Andrew Fiddler took the loss, after allowing sevens runs on 12 hits in five innings.
In game two, Harding trailed 2-0 until the bottom of the fifth, when six straight Bisons singled to score four runs. SAU had a home run in the top of the sixth that cut the Bisons’ lead to 4-3, but Harding answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to grab a 5-3 lead and hold on for the win.
“We played and competed really well in the second and third game of the series, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to win game 3 and ended up losing the series,” senior catcher Davis Richardson said. “Sometimes that’s just how it goes.”
SAU jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in game three on Monday, but the Bisons scored a run in the third, fourth and fifth innings to cut the Muleriders’ lead to 4-3. After SAU scored another run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-3, neiter team was able to get anything going in the last three innings and the Bisons dropped game three.
Freshman outfielder Ben Brauss started for the fifth time this season and brought home Harding’s first run and first hit of the third game of this series.
“Although we didn’t get the results we wanted, we stayed together and fought as a family,” Hunter said.
According to McGaha the team still has a chance to place in the GAC.
“I look forward to getting this season turned, going in the right direction because they have put in a lot of hard work,” McGaha said.
