MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After suffering a tough 4-3 loss in second game of its three-game Great American Conference series at Southern Arkansas, Harding took out its frustration with a 10-1 victory in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader and the third game in the series. Southern Arkansas won the opener 1-0 on Friday.
With the doubleheader split, Harding moved to 16-16 overall and 8-7 in the GAC. The Bisons are currently in seventh place in the conference standings but are only one-half game behind fourth-place teams Arkansas-Monticello and Southeastern Oklahoma, who are both 9-7.
Harding took a 3-2 lead in the seventh inning of game one. Kyler Offenbacker led off the inning with a double and scored on Zac Stewart's single to left. But Southern Arkansas came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Stewart came in to relieve Harding starter Collin Campbell (4-2), who gave up a single and a pair of walks to load the bases with no outs. Stewart struck out the first two batters he faced, but Jon Phillips' single to center scored the game's tying and winning runs.
Harding had 13 hits, the most in a game since recording 20 hits in the 22-0, season-opening win over Augustana. The Bisons had five doubles but left nine runners on base.
Stewart, Offenbacker, Davis Richardson and Alan Copeland each had two hits.
Southern Arkansas starter Preston Gray (5-3) earned the win despite allowing 12 hits, including four doubles, in seven innings. He gave up only two earned runs and did not walk any.
In game two, Harding took a lead for the third straight game in the series, scoring three runs in the second off Mulerider starter Colton Strother (2-1). Two of the runs scored from third on wild pitches after Shane Kinnear scored Copeland from second with a double.
In the seventh, Harding added seven more runs, and junior Harrison Hunter broke a 16-year-old school record. All seven runs in the inning came with two outs.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Hunter singled to left to score Kinnear. It was Hunter's 30th consecutive game to reach base, breaking the school record of 29 set by Ben James in 1999. Stewart followed with a two-run double, Noah Chandler scored Stewart with a single, and Copeland hit a three-run home run, his third of the season, to finish out the scoring. Copeland was 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs. It was his first three-hit game, and he now leads the team with 10 multi-hit games.
Harding junior Jacob Stripling (3-3) was outstanding on the mound. He allowed only three hits and one earned run and needed only 94 pitches for his first complete game of the season.
Stripling has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts and has lowered his ERA to a team-best 3.21.
Strother did not make it out of the fourth inning. He gave up seven earned runs in 3 2-3 innings.
