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Harding University Athletics

Luke Van Dover
Jeff Montgomery/Harding Universi
5
Harding HU 13-8, 6-4 GAC
7
Winner Southeastern Oklahom SOSU 10-9, 6-4 GAC
Harding HU
13-8, 6-4 GAC
5
Final
7
Southeastern Oklahom SOSU
10-9, 6-4 GAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Harding HU 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 12 1
Southeastern Oklahom SOSU 2 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 X 7 15 1

W: C. Nitson (2-3) L: Smith, Tanner (3-2) S: L. Teske (2)

7
Winner Harding HU 14-8
4
Southeastern Oklahom SOSU 10-10
Winner
Harding HU
14-8
7
Final
4
Southeastern Oklahom SOSU
10-10
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Harding HU 4 0 3 0 0 0 0 7 5 1
Southeastern Oklahom SOSU 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 4 7 1

W: Yakel, Ryder (2-0) L: M. Whitmarsh (3-2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | by Scott Goode (3/8/19)

Homers Power Harding to Doubleheader Split at Southeastern

DURANT, Okla. – Harding entered its Great American Conference series with Southeastern Oklahoma with four home runs through its first 20 games. The Bisons hit six homers in Saturday's doubleheader split, including three from junior Luke Van Dover. Southeastern won the opener 7-5, and Harding took game two 7-4. The series concludes with a single game Saturday at 2 p.m.

Van Dover entered the series second in Division II with 11 doubles. With his three home runs in the doubleheader, 15 of his 23 hits this season have gone for extra bases.

Game 1
Harding (14-8, 7-4) used a leadoff home run from Nolan Fertig and a three-run shot from Van Dover in the second to build a 5-3 lead after two innings, but Southeastern scored four in the fourth to take the lead for good. Neither team scored in the final five innings.

Tanner Smith (3-3) had his first rough outing of the season, allowing seven earned runs on 12 hits over 4.0 innings. Brian Tims pitched the last 4.0 innings, scattered three hits and did not give up a run. His ERA dropped to 2.31.

Harding had 12 hits. Fertig was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, his third three-hit game of the season. It was his second home run. Connor Kelly and Ben Bailey had two hits each.

Austin Ferguson led Southeastern (10-10, 6-5). He was 2-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs.

Game 2
Harding got off to a great start in game two. Nolan Fertig reached on an error to open the game. Kelly and Miles Humphreys were both hit by pitches, and Van Dover hit a grand slam to give Harding a 4-0 lead. It was Harding's second grand slam this season—Humphreys hit one at Southern Arkansas—and the first in Van Dover's career.

Southeastern scored one in the first and two in the second to pull within 4-3, but Van Dover struck again in the third. He hit his second home run of the game and third of the day with one out and the bases empty. It was his first career two-homer game.

Three batters later, Ben Brauss hit a two-run home run to give Harding a lead it never relinquished. It was Brauss's sixth career home run and first of the season and gave the Bisons a 7-3 lead.

Logan McCall started and went 3.2 innings. He struck out five and yielded six hits and four earned runs. Ryder Yakel (2-0) allowed only one hit and struck out six over the final 3.1 innings to earn the win. Yakel has not surrendered an earned run in his first 21.2 innings. Opponents are hitting .099 against him.

Van Dover finished 2-for-3 with two runs and the first five-RBI game of his career.
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