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Harding University Athletics

Jackson Ward
Jeff Montgomery
Jackson Ward carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning.
3
East Central ECU 9-22, 8-15 GAC
5
Winner Harding HU 14-21, 10-13 GAC
East Central ECU
9-22, 8-15 GAC
3
Final
5
Harding HU
14-21, 10-13 GAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
East Central ECU 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 9 2
Harding HU 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 X 5 8 0

W: Faulkner, Mason (2-3) L: Jake Wellington (2-2)

0
East Central ECU 9-23, 8-16 GAC
2
Winner Harding HU 15-21, 11-13 GAC
East Central ECU
9-23, 8-16 GAC
0
Final
2
Harding HU
15-21, 11-13 GAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
East Central ECU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
Harding HU 1 0 0 0 1 0 X 2 3 1

W: Ward, Jackson (2-4) L: Brandon Dusenberry (4-5) S: Beever, Raiff (5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | by Scott Goode (4/8/17)

Pitching Brilliance Leads Harding Baseball to Sweep of East Central

SEARCY – Strong starting pitching and clutch relief led Harding to a doubleheader sweep of East Central on Saturday at Jerry Moore Field. Harding won 5-3 and 2-0 and claimed the series sweep after winning Friday's opener 5-2.

With three victories over East Central, Harding moved to 15-21 overall and 11-13 in Great American Conference games. The Bisons are sixth among GAC Tournament-eligible teams with the top eight teams reaching the tournament.

East Central lost its fifth and sixth straight games and dropped to 9-23 overall and 8-16 in conference.

Harding fans almost saw history in game two. Junior left-hander Jackson Ward (2-4) took a no-hitter into the top of the seventh inning in the seven-inning game. Harding's last no-hitter came from Troy Keith against Alabama-Huntsville in 2010.

With Harding leading 2-0, Ward walked the leadoff hitter Connor Stevenson but got Josh Reeves to fly out. The next batter, Trevor Huie hit a hard ground ball into right field for the first hit. Ward allowed only that hit, walked two and struck out seven. He threw 88 pitches, 55 for strikes.

Freshman Raiff Beever came in to relieve Ward and got a ground out from Dalton Etheredge and a strikeout from Austin LoBue to earn his fifth save.

Harding capitalized on two East Central errors to score both runs in the game. Freshman Ben Brauss led off the game with a routine ground ball to Jake MeKeel at third, but MeKeel's throw to first sailed, and Brauss went all the way to second. Junior Grant Guest moved him to third with a ground ball, and junior Chris Taylor scored him with a single to left.

Harding doubled its lead in the fifth. With one out, junior Tyler Mohr reached on another throwing error by MeKeel. He went to second on Brauss' single and to third on a strange fielder's choice that loaded the bases for Harding. Guest hit a ground ball back to the pitcher Brandon Dusenberry, who spun and threw to second in an attempt to force out Brauss, but umpire Codey Davis ruled that the second baseman Zach Lewis did not touch the bag.

With the bases loaded, freshman Luke Van Dover hit a sinking liner to left that was caught by Kodiak O'Ravez, but Mohr scored an unearned run from third.

Dusenberry (4-5) was outstanding for East Central. He allowed only three hits and no earned runs, walked one and struck out 10, including five straight over a stretch in the third and fourth innings.

In game one, the teams were tied 3-3 entering the bottom of the eighth. Freshman Myles Humphreys singled to open the inning, and junior Zach Beasley followed with a bunt single. Freshman J. Paul Fullerton followed with another bunt. East Central pitcher Zach Wellington picked up the ball and had no chance to throw out Fullerton, but he threw anyway and wildly into the right field corner. Humphreys scored on the error. Harding added another on a suicide squeeze by Jack Thomas that scored pinch-runner Brooks Pitaniello.

Junior Reed Roberts had a quality start for Harding, lasting seven innings and allowing seven hits and three earned runs. Beever got two outs in the eighth inning, and junior Mason Faulkner (2-3) collected the third out. Faulkner gave up one hit in the ninth but no further damage was done, and he earned the win after the Harding comeback.

Beasley and Thomas both had two hits for Harding in game one, and Brauss had two of Harding's three hits in game two.

Harding will be back in action Tuesday in a non-conference game home game against NCAA Division III Hendrix. First pitch at Jerry Moore Field is at 3 p.m.




 
 
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