ARKADELPHIA- With a strong first inning and offensive consistently throughout, North Alabama downed Ouachita Baptist, 15-4, to take a 2-1 non-conference baseball series win at Rab Rodgers Field on Sunday.
Ouachita (3-2) collected eight hits in the loss, but gave up eight runs in the first inning to North Alabama (5-1) and never could recover, despite cutting the deficit to 8-4 after the second inning.
After an 8-0 start for the Lions, Ouachita answered with three runs in the bottom half of the first. Senior Kyle Zimmerman reached second base on an error by the right fielder, then came around to score on an RBI single from junior Brock Green two batters later.
A pair of singles from freshman Keegan Ghidotti and junior Brett Mazmanian allowed a sacrifice fly from sophomore Duncan Collins to drive in Green to make the score, 8-2. Senior Sam McGill drove in the final run after reaching on an error from the first baseman, driving in Ghidotti to make it 8-3 after one inning of play.
The Tigers struck again in the second, as senior Ben Warner and Zimmerman opened with back-to-back singles. Warner came around to score the only run of the inning when Green’s sacrifice fly set the score at 8-4. The run marked the final run for Ouachita, as North Alabama put together 17 hits in the victory.
Sophomore starter Travis King (0-1) took the loss for Ouachita, going 2/3 of an inning and giving up eight runs, including four earned runs. The middle relief pitching for the Tigers was solid, as junior Zac Treece (2 1/3 innings, 2 earned runs), junior Ryan Westover (1 1/3 innings, 0 runs) and senior Nick Holtgrieve (1 2/3 innings, one earned run) limited the bats for the Lions.
At the plate for Ouachita, Mazmanian and Warner both finished 2-for-3, as Warner scored a run. Zimmerman, senior Cass Via, Ghidotti and Green each recorded a single for the Tigers.
Ouachita returns to action to face Central Missouri (0-0) on Friday, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m. at Rab Rodgers Field
