SEARCY – St. Cloud State swept a pair of one-run games from Harding on Saturday at Jerry Moore Field. The Huskies won the opener 2-1 and took game two 1-0. St. Cloud has won all four games of the series by one run. The teams conclude the series Sunday with a single game at noon.
St. Cloud (4-0) scored the game-winner in the opener in the eighth inning. Eric Loxtercamp singled to lead off the inning against Harding reliever Hunter Payne (0-1). Loxtercamp moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Michael Jurgella's double to left center.
Harding (5-9) took a 1-0 lead in the game in the third inning. Chris Taylor walked and moved to second on a sacrifice. He went to third on a ground out and scored on Harrison Hunter's single to centerfield. The single extended Hunter's on-base streak to 13 straight games.
St. Cloud answered in the fourth, capitalizing on a Harding error to score an unearned run against starter Collin Campbell. Jurgella reached on an error and scored on a bases-loaded ground out by Brandon Arnold.
Both starting pitchers were outstanding. St. Cloud's Logan Spitzack allowed only one earned run in 6 2-3 innings. Campbell gave up one unearned run in six innings and yielded only two hits to lower his ERA to 1.99.
Ryan Diers (1-0) earned the win in relief for St. Cloud. He gave up only one hit, a Jesse Cox double in the ninth that hit the leftfield wall in the air and nearly tied the game.
The teams combined to hit 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position. St. Cloud was 1-for-9, and Harding was 1-for-10.
Harding had several chances to score in game two, but left the bases loaded three times and stranded 11 runners in the game. The Bisons were hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position in game two.
St. Cloud scored the only run of the game in the top of the seventh. With runners at first and second and two outs, Loxtercamp singled up the middle to score pinch-runner Nick Denny with the game-winning run. It was the Huskies' only hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Jacob Stripling (1-3) took the loss but allowed only four hits in six innings. Adam Harlander (1-0) got the last out of the bottom of the sixth to earn the win. Diers pitched the seventh and picked up the save.
Harding had only three hits but walked six times and was hit by pitches four times. Hunter walked once and was hit by a pitch twice and has reached in all 14 games.
