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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The road had not been kind to the Harding baseball team. Before Saturday, the Bisons had one road victory in 12 games in 2010, but that all changed with two come-from-behind triumphs over Gulf South Conference foe Ouachita Baptist at Rab Rogers Field.
Harding (14-13, 2-3 GSC West) was within one strike of falling in game one before rallying to win 4-3. In game two, the Bisons posted nine runs in the top of the seventh to win 13-6. The series concludes Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m.
In the opener, Harding trailed 3-2 entering the top of the ninth inning. Ouachita Baptist head coach Chris Moddlemog summoned junior Nick Holgrieve, the GSC's saves leader at six, out of the bullpen. Holgrieve fanned Erin McCarver before Paul Anzalone's infield single. After another strikeout, Harding sophomore Heath Boyd was behind in the count 0-2, but battled back and tied the game with an RBI double to left center, his fourth double of the season.
Junior Adam Robertson then pinch-hit for the Bisons and laced a game-winning double to left to score Boyd and put Harding ahead 4-3. Holtgrieve fell to 0-2 on the season.
Ouachita Baptist (15-12, 2-3) had taken the lead with three runs in the seventh off Harding starter Troy Keith. Freshman Tyler Billen got the last two outs of the seventh, worked out of a two-hit jam in the eighth, and sat the Tigers down in order in the ninth to move to 3-0 on the season.
Harding took the lead in the game in the fourth when redshirt freshman Anthony Guglielmi led off the inning with his first collegiate home run. The Bisons tacked on another run on a Boyd RBI double off Tiger starter Will Gowdy.
Keith went 6 1/3 innings for Harding and allowed three earned runs on eight hits. Gowdy lasted six innings and surrendered two runs on seven hits for Ouachita Baptist.
Things looked dire again for the Bisons in game two. Ouachita Baptist erased an early 1-0 Harding lead with a five-run third inning off Bison starter Kyle Cline. Harding answered with three runs in the top of the fifth, two coming on a two-run McCarver double, but OBU made it 6-4 with a run of its own in the bottom of the fifth. The Tigers carried that lead into the seventh and final inning, but they did not hold it for long.
In the seventh, Harding tied the game at 6-6 on a Guglielmi RBI double and a run-scoring ground out from Will McDonald. The Bisons had the bases loaded and two outs when Harding's Clay West lifted a shallow fly ball to center field that should have ended the inning. But OBU's Steve Mirizzi dropped the fly ball, allowing two runs to score, and Harding capitalized by plating five more runs. In the inning, Harding's 12 hitters had five base hits, twice reached on errors, two walked and one was hit by a pitch.
For the second straight game, Harding's winning pitcher came out of the bullpen. Patrick Nappi (1-2) earned his first win as a Bison, pitching 2 2/3 shutout innings. Cline went 4 1/3 and allowed six runs on six hits.
Zac Treece (5-1) lost for the first time for OBU. Treece pitched in both games. He did not allow a hit in two innings in game one. He gave up four hits and eight runs (two earned) in 1 2/3 innings in game two and took the loss.
