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Harding University Athletics

Mason Faulkner
Jeff Montgomery
13
Winner Harding HU 13-16, 6-11 GAC
6
Southern Nazarene SNU 9-16, 5-12 GAC
Winner
Harding HU
13-16, 6-11 GAC
13
Final
6
Southern Nazarene SNU
9-16, 5-12 GAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Harding HU 3 4 1 1 0 0 0 2 2 13 17 3
Southern Nazarene SNU 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 10 0

W: Smith, Tanner (3-4) L: Jefferson Harris (1-3)

6
Winner Harding HU 14-16, 7-11 GAC
3
Southern Nazarene SNU 9-17, 5-13 GAC
Winner
Harding HU
14-16, 7-11 GAC
6
Final
3
Southern Nazarene SNU
9-17, 5-13 GAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Harding HU 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 7 0
Southern Nazarene SNU 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 8 2

W: Ward, Jackson (4-1) L: David Gustafson (3-5) S: Roberts, Reed (3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | by Scott Goode (3/24/18)

Harding Baseball Sweeps Southern Nazarene, Extends Winning Streak to Six

BETHANY, Okla. – Harding baseball scored early, got solid starting pitching and shutdown relief to win both games of a Great American Conference doubleheader Saturday at Southern Nazarene. The Bisons won 13-6 and 6-3, and combined with a 7-6 win Friday, swept the Crimson Storm, their first GAC road sweep since taking three from Arkansas-Monticello in 2016.

With the sweep, Harding improved to 14-16 overall and 7-11 in the GAC. The Bisons have won six straight and seven of their last eight. Harding is within three games of six place and the final berth in the GAC Tournament with five weekends left.

Southern Nazarene dropped to 9-17 overall and 5-13 in conference. The Crimson Storm have had all kinds of trouble at home, losing 12 straight in Bethany.

In the opener, Harding scored in each of the first four innings and got seven hits and five runs from the top two spots in the lineup.

For Harding starter Tanner Smith, the run support was a welcome sight. Only once in seven starts this season had Harding scored more than five runs. Smith pitched a season-high eight innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on ninth hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

Smith (3-4) earned his first win since a Feb. 17 victory at Northwestern Oklahoma. He has not allowed more than four earned runs in a start this season.

Harding scored three in the first, four in the second and added single runs in the third and fourth to take a 9-3 lead after four.

Grant Guest and Nolan Fertig both singled to open the first inning, a preview of things to come. Both scored, Guest on a Luke Van Dover double and Fertig on Beasley's sacrifice fly. Ben Bailey drove in the third run with a single to score Connor Kelly.

A two-out, two-run Chris Taylor single was the highlight of the four-run second.

After Southern Nazarene scored three in the second, Harding answered with an RBI single from Guest in the third and another from Jack Thomas in the fourth.

Southern Nazarene starter Jefferson Harris (1-3) came out with one out in the third, having allowed eight earned runs on seven hits.

Harding's 9-3 lead held until the eighth when the Bisons tacked on two more. Kelly drove in Beasley with a single and scored on Eric Hanson's double to left to give Harding an eight-run lead.

Two more Bisons scored in the ninth. Brendan Perrett led off the ninth with a single and scored on a wild pitch. Guest notched his fourth hit of the game and scored on Fertig's sacrifice fly.

Southern Nazarene used two hits and two Harding errors to score three in the bottom of the ninth.

Harding had a season-high 17 hits and matched its season-high run total in a conference game. It was Guest's first four-hit game of the season. Fertig had his second three-hit game.

Harding used another big second inning to pull out to a 4-0 lead in game two. All four runs scored with two outs. Thomas walked to load the bases, and Perrett quickly unloaded them with a two-run single to give the Bisons a 2-0 lead. Thomas scored on a balk, and Perrett came home on a Guest single.

Crimson Storm starter David Gustafson (3-5) came out after the fifth. He took the loss, allowing four earned runs on six hits.

Southern Nazarene closed the gap to 4-3 with three in the fifth. Cole Lee doubled in two and scored on Shelby Reese's infield single.

Harding starter Jackson Ward (4-1) came out with one out in the fifth. He went 4 1/3 and allowed three runs, all earned, on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts to earn the win. Reed Roberts came on to get the last two outs of the fifth, and Harding held a 4-3 lead.

In the top of the seventh, Harding added two more runs thanks to a Southern Nazarene error with two outs.

Roberts shut down Southern Nazarene for the final two innings to earn his third save of the season. Ward has now won his last three starts.

Kelly and Fertig led Harding with two hits each, and Perrett had two RBIs.
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