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Harding University Athletics

Ryder Yakel
Jeff Montgomery/Harding Universi
3
Southwestern Okla. SWOSU 16-18, 12-12 GAC
8
Winner Harding HU 23-14, 14-10 GAC
Southwestern Okla. SWOSU
16-18, 12-12 GAC
3
Final
8
Harding HU
23-14, 14-10 GAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Southwestern Okla. SWOSU 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 10 1
Harding HU 1 1 0 2 0 0 4 0 X 8 16 1

W: Bilek, Zach (1-0) L: Cooper Cantwell (4-4) S: Yakel, Ryder (5)

Game Recap: Baseball | | by Scott Goode (4/6/19)

Bison Bats, Bullpen Bash Bulldogs; Harding Wins Series over SWOSU

SEARCY – Harding matched its season high for hits and received 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching in an 8-3 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma Saturday at Jerry Moore Field. The victory gave the Bisons a two-games-to-one series win over the Bulldogs after Friday's doubleheader split.

Before the game, the flag pole out in center field was dedicated to former baseball head coach Dick Johnson. Johnson served in World War II.

Harding improved to 23-14 overall and 14-10 in the Great American Conference. With the win, the Bisons will finish the day no worse than tied for fourth in the conference standings. Southwestern dropped to 16-18 overall and 12-12 in conference and sit in seventh place.

Trailing 3-2 entering the bottom of the fourth, Harding got two-out RBI singles from Nolan Fertig and Miles Humphreys to take a 4-3 lead against Southwestern starter Cooper Cantwell.

With the one-run lead, Harding brought on closer Ryder Yakel in the fifth inning. Yakel shut down the Bulldogs over the last five innings, scattering five hits and striking out six with no walks. The five-inning save was his fifth of the season. Yakel has pitched 24 2/3 innings at Jerry Moore Field this season with no earned runs, 24 strikeouts, five walks and 11 hits allowed.

The win went to Zach Bilek (1-0), who relieved starter Ty Hoecker in the third inning, and picked up five outs without allowing a run.

Cantwell (4-4) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on 10 hits over six innings.

Harding tacked on four more runs on four hits in the seventh. Luke Van Dover opened the scoring with a solo home run off the scoreboard in left field, his team-leading sixth home run of the season. Connor Kelly, David Butterfield and Tyler Mohr also had hits in the inning with Mohr driving in a run.

Van Dover and Kelly also had hits in the eighth, giving Harding 16 for the game and tying its total from a 9-1 win over East Central on March 1.

Kelly and Butterfield led Harding with three hits each. Fertig, Mohr, Van Dover and Cody Smith had two.

Harding, now 17-6 at home this season, returns to Jerry Moore Field Tuesday to host Williams Baptist in a non-conference doubleheader.





 
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