Following a loss on Friday afternoon, the Ouachita baseball team split Saturday’s doubleheader with a very good team from Southern Arkansas. The Tigers took the first game of the day by a final score of 2-1, behind the pitching performance of Davis Ward. In the second game, the Tigers struggled though, falling by a score of 8-2.
Southern Arkansas (13-6, 7-1 GAC) opened up the scoring in the fourth inning with an RBI single from Ryan Dardenne, scoring Chris Quinn.
The Tigers (9-7-1, 5-3 GAC) answered the score in the fifth though, when Will Wallace clocked an RBI single, scoring Chris Taveres and tying the game. They scored the final run of the game in the seventh, when Parker Norris scored due to an error by Southern Arkansas, scoring the game-winning run.
Ward threw nine innings, holding the Muleriders to seven hits and a single run while recording nine strikeouts. Jon Mark Abbey took the loss for Southern Arkansas, throwing 7.1 innings and giving up nine hits and two runs, only one of which was earned.
In the second game of the day, the Muleriders’ bats came alive, as they notched 14 hits and eight runs, while holding the Tigers to just two runs.
The Muleriders plated four runs in the first inning, jumping out to an early lead, before stretching their lead to five runs in the second inning with an unearned run scoring on an error.
The Tigers scored their first run of the game in the second inning, when Tyler Faught recorded an RBI single that scored Tavares.
SAU stretched their lead some more in the third, making their lead 7-1 just three innings into the game. Ouachita scored another run in the fifth, but another run by SAU in the sixth gave the Muleriders the 8-2 lead that the game would finish with.
Philip Menou was credited with the win for Southern Arkansas, throwing seven innings and recording 10 strikeouts. Josh Everetttook the loss for the Tigers, throwing two innings and giving up four earned runs.
The Tigers return to Tuesday, March 5, when they hit the road to take on Arkansas Tech in a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
