Harding Defeats ATU, Earns Trip To Tournament

By Amanda Pruitt

Sophomore Troy Keith pitched his second complete game of the season.

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SEARCY -- The Harding Bisons qualified for its second Gulf South Conference in eight years by sweeping the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys in a doubleheader Saturday at Jerry Moore Field. Harding won the first game 7-2 and rallied for a 7-4 in the second game.

Harding (27-20, 9-9) found itself in familiar territory coming into the last weekend of the conference season. Last year, the Bisons were still alive in the playoff chase before being eliminated by Arkansas Tech in the final conference series.

Saturday's result was a complete turnaround from last year as a pair of pitching performances vaulted the Bisons past Arkansas Tech (21-23, 8-11) for the final GSC West playoff spot, giving Harding a tournament berth for the first time since 2002.

In the first game, Harding took an early lead as sophomore Troy Keith (4-2) pitched his second complete game of the season, allowing four hits and two runs and striking out eight.

Sophomore Will McDonald hit a run-scoring triple to center field to give Harding a 1-0 lead after two innings. Harding added two more runs in the third inning on a two-run single by junior Wisley Correa, who finished the game with a team-leading three hits.

Redshirt freshman Tyler Thompson hit a three-run home run -- his second of the season -- and the Bisons extended their lead to 7-2 in the fifth inning.

Arkansas Tech's Zach Weiss (4-6) pitched five innings and allowed five earned runs and eight hits in the loss.

In the second game, Arkansas Tech led 2-0 after Jonathan Houston hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the third. Harding took the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring three runs, two of them coming when Correa hit a two-run single that scored senior Bo Whitaker and junior Aaron Roberts.

The Wonder Boys scored two runs in the fifth inning and reclaimed the lead 4-3 on a triple by Jantzen Black.

Roberts hit a double to left field to score Whitaker and senior J.D. Glenn to give Harding a 5-4 lead. The Bisons added two more runs in the inning as Roberts scored on an error and senior Matt Stevens hit double to score Thompson.

Sophomore Brodie Brumley (5-1) earned the win, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits. Cody Taylor (3-4) entered the game as a reliever and took the loss for Arkansas Tech.

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