WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Harding picked up clutch hits and received solid efforts from four pitchers and swept Southwestern Oklahoma 2-1 and 5-3 on Sunday, moving even closer to the lead the in Great American Conference.
The final game of the series is Monday at noon.
Harding (25-19, 16-7) has a .696 winning percentage in its 23 conference games. Conference leader Ouachita Baptist won one game against Southern Nazarene and is 12-5 in GAC games, a .706 winning percentage.
The Harding-Southwestern Oklahoma series was originally scheduled for Searcy but was moved to Weatherford early in the week due to a daunting weekend weather forecast in Searcy. Due to changes forced by weather, Harding is playing the seventh of its nine conference series on the road.
In the opener, junior Andrew Fiddler (6-2) continued his recent dominance of opposing hitters. He pitched his second nine-inning complete game this season, allowed seven hits and one unearned run and earned his fifth straight win. Since allowing five earned runs in a six-inning outing against East Central on March 21, Fiddler has given up only one earned run over 31 innings (0.29 ERA) over his last four starts.
Harding's four hits in the opener were its fewest in its last 23 games, but the Bisons made them count. Two of Harding's hits came from its first two batters in the game. Juniors Harrison Hunter and Zac Stewart led off the game with consecutive singles, junior Noah Chandler was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Harding's first run scored on junior Davis Richardson's bases-loaded walk.
Southwestern (16-25, 9-17) tied the game with an unearned run in the top of the fourth. Haden Houska singled with one out, advanced on a throwing error, and scored on Jacob Spring's RBI single.
Harding used one of its two remaining hits to score the eventual game-winner in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, senior Shane Kinnear's infield popup was dropped by Southwestern shortstop Dalton Daniels. Kinnear moved up to second on a passed ball and scored on senior Kyler Offenbacker's single to left that extended Offenbacker's hitting streak to 13 games.
Fiddler stranded four Bulldog runners in the last three innings. In the seventh, Southwestern's Nolan Barrientos reached third with two outs, but Fiddler retired CJ Faddis on a groundout. In the eighth, Fiddler gave up a leadoff single to Mason Marshall but escaped by getting Daniels to ground into a double play. Southwestern had runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth, but Faddis grounded out to end the game. Fiddler held the Bulldogs to only 1 of 11 with runners in scoring position.
Southwestern starter Ethan Davis (3-5) pitched a complete game in the loss. He struck out four in his first start of the season.
In game two, Harding's bats reemerged, especially at the top of the lineup. Harding's first five hitters combined for nine of the Bisons' 11 hits, and Richardson, in the cleanup spot, had his fourth three-hit game of the season.
Harding jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second. Offenbacker extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-run single to right that scored Zach Beasley and Richardson.
A storm shut down the teams for 67 minutes after the second inning, and both teams had to replace their starting pitchers when action resumed. Harding's Collin Campbell had three strikeouts in two innings, but was replaced by freshman Reed Roberts. Southwestern's Taylor Weinfenbach came on for Connor Garcia (1-6) who left with a two-run deficit.
The rain did not cool off Harding's hitters. Hunter singled to lead off the third and scored on Chandler's double to left. Chandler came around to score an unearned run on a Houska throwing error that followed Richardson's infield single.
Southwestern scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to cut Harding's lead to 4-2, but Harding had four straight singles to open the bottom of the fifth. Richardson's single to left scored Stewart to give the Bisons a three-run lead.
Junior Hunter Payne came on for Roberts (2-1) in the sixth. He gave up a run in the sixth but held on in the seventh to earn his third save.
