HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Arkansas Tech got off to a hot start and slowed down the potent Oklahoma Baptist offense en route to an 11-6 Great American Conference Tournament win on Monday morning.
The Bison concluded their season with a 27-22 record in the process.
The Wonder Boys got ahold of OBU's pitching in the first as they tallied five runs on three hits. After three of the first four batters reached, first baseman Shelby Quiggins doubled down the right-field line and plated two.
ATU then went up 3-0 after a wild pitch before an Evan Hafley two-run shot pushed the eighth-seeded team's advantage to 5-0.
Despite that, OBU came back to the game in its half inning of work.
Kade Self got things going with a two-out RBI single which scored
Dan Pruitt. Second baseman
Ramon Gomez continued the rally with another run-scoring single, bringing the tally to 5-2.
Trey Furrey then reached via walked which loaded the bases and brought teammate
Troy Shields into the box. The Bison's catcher got hit by pitch, scored Self, and then watched as
Jose Parga drove in the tying runs courtesy of a single to center.
Despite the momentum evening up, OBU's pitching was taken ahold of again by ATU. In the second, the Wonder Boys scored four more on three hits. Highlighting that inning was an RBI double from Josh Detweiler.
Following those go-ahead runs for ATU, the Bison weren't themselves after that, even with relief pitcher
Nolan Feazle keeping things close. He ended up tossing six frames, struck out five and induced 10 flyouts.
Over the final eight frames, the Bison notched just one run. That came in the bottom of the second when Pruitt launched his 24th homer of the year, tying the program's single-season record with Josh Collazo (2009).
OBU did have opportunities after that, but it left nine runners on base after Pruitt's slam and weren't able to pull any closer.
