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Box Score 2
SEARCY – Harding dropped both games of a Gulf South Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday against Central Arkansas. The Bears won the opener 16-2 and downed the Bisons 5-4 in extra innings in game two. The teams meet Sunday for the finale of the three-game series at 1 p.m. at Jerry Moore Field.
Harding (7-11, 0-5) led the second game 4-3 after six innings, but Central Arkansas knotted the game in the seventh on a Matt Warren RBI single. A Bison error in the ninth allowed Todd Gossage to score the winning run for the Bears. Gossage led off the inning against Bison reliever Jeff Davis (1-2) with a single and went to second on Chris Houk’s sacrifice bunt. Ronnie Phillips, in the game as the pitcher, then chopped a ground ball to Harding shortstop Bo Whitaker. His throw to first was wild and Gossage came around from second to score.
Phillips (2-0) then retired the first two Harding batters in the ninth before giving way to Brian Blankenship, who earned his sixth save by striking out Zach Fisher.
Justin Phillips pitched well for the Bisons in game two, hurling 7.1 innings and allowing seven hits and four earned runs. Harding had seven hits in the game, led by Devin Watts and Chase Chandler with two each.
The loss left the Bisons looking for their first conference victory of the season after five games. Central Arkansas (15-6, 4-1) has won four of its first five GSC games.
UCA jumped out to an 8-0 lead after four innings in the opener. Harding tallied two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth. Whitaker had the Bisons’ only hit of the game with two outs. Blake Robertson was then hit by a pitch from Bear starter Matt Whitaker (3-1). A wild pitch advanced both runners, who scored on a fielding error by UCA second baseman Jeff Mack.
The Bears added two more runs in the sixth and six more in the seventh to end the game after seven innings due to the GSC’s 10-run rule. UCA had 10 hits in the game, seven coming against Harding starter Mike Davis (1-3).
