SHAWNEE – Arkansas-Monticello used a five-run seventh inning to put a very close affair out of reach against Oklahoma Baptist on Friday. The Boll Weevils won 11-7 and snapped the Bison's six-game winning streak.
Until the latter innings, Friday's game was a pitching duel between OBU's
Brek Galbreath and UAM's Connor Irvine. There were just three combined runs heading to the seventh.
The game was scoreless after three as Galbreath gave up just two hits while Irvine surrendered a couple walks and a double. For UAM's pitcher, he struck out six batters as well.
OBU's offense did have chances early on, but it ended up stranding three runners after two innings.
Then in the fourth, back-to-back two-out singles by Parker Dorrance and Noah Estrem broke the scoreless tie and gave the Weevils a 1-0 advantage.
A half-inning later, the green and gold tied things up.
Alex Schroeder and
Kade Self walked and singled, respectively, to get things going.
Trey Furrey followed with a perfectly-executed sacrifice bunt to put his teammates in scoring position. Immediately following that Furrey play,
Gabe Irwin connected with a sac fly to center and pushed Schroeder home.
That 1-1 score didn't remain long, though, as UAM retook the lead in the fifth. That came on a solo shot by Chaz Poppy to right field.
Two frames later, leading 2-1, Monticello put the game out of reach. And it did so with two out.
Kirk Woolf and Poppy earned back-to-back RBI doubles to push the UAM lead to 4-1. Later, Dorrance's two-run single to right scored two more and made the tally 7-1.
UAM's advantage would hold the rest of the way, but the Bison did get some late-inning momentum with a two-run triple by Schroeder and two-run double by
Jose Parga.
Tomorrow the two teams will meet for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
