Box Score
SEARCY – Harding scored six runs in the final two innings but still fell a run short as the Bisons fell 8-7 to MidAmerica Nazarene in a non-conference baseball game Thursday at Jerry Moore Field. For Harding, the game was the fourth in an eight-game homestand which continues Friday with a doubleheader against College of the Ozarks.
Harding (8-12) struggled to get anything going off MidAmerica Nazarene starter Chris Steiber (2-0). The right-hander limited the Bisons to one run on four hits over 7.0 innings. Things changed when Harding got into the Pioneer bullpen.
Down 8-1 going into the bottom of the eighth, Harding cut the lead to four runs with a bases loaded walk and run-scoring singles from Devin Watts and Jimmy Sisk.
In the ninth, Harding loaded the bases with one out. Jon David Glenn laced a two-run single to right to make it 8-6. MidAmerica Nazarene then moved third baseman Sam VanDyken to the mound. Sisk lifted a sacrifice fly to center field for the second out. But with the tying run at second base, Pioneer leftfielder Phillip Franklin hauled in Adam Darby’s deep fly to left for the final out.
Harding starter Mike Davis (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing seven runs (four earned) on 10 hits over 4.2 innings. The relief duo of Brandon Brock and Trevor Holbert then shut down the Pioneer offense, allowing only one unearned run on one hit over 4.1 innings.
Both teams had 11 hits in the game, seven of Harding’s came in the final two innings. Watts, a junior designated hitter, went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. It was his second three-hit game of the season.
Leftfielder Blake Revelle was 3-for-3 with two runs for the Pioneers, and outfielder Gilbert Garcia was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, and three RBI.
MidAmerica Nazarene (12-5), an NAIA school located in Olathe, Kan., completed its brief trip to Arkansas with two wins in three games. The Pioneers split a doubleheader at Lyon College in Batesville on Wednesday.
