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Harding University Athletics

Cody Smith
8
Winner Harding HU 5-2
7
Ouachita Baptist OUA 3-6
Winner
Harding HU
5-2
8
Final
7
Ouachita Baptist OUA
3-6
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Harding HU 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 3 8 14 0
Ouachita Baptist OUA 4 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 7 10 1

W: Yakel, Ryder (1-0) L: Cooper Timmons (1-2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | by Scott Goode (3/7/21)

Harding Baseball Erases Six-Run Deficit in Comeback Win at Ouachita

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Trailing by six runs after five innings, Harding rallied for five in the sixth and three more in the ninth to defeat Ouachita Baptist 8-7 Sunday in the final game of a three-game Great American Conference series at Rab Rogers Field. Ouachita won both games Saturday.

With the win, Harding improved to 5-2 overall and 4-2 in conference. Ouachita dropped to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in conference.

Down 7-5 entering the ninth, Harding loaded the bases with no outs on consecutive singles from Harrison Hefley, David Butterfield and Cody Smith. Hefley scored on a ground out by Caleb Stull, leaving runners at second and third with one out.

Ouachita reliever Cooper Timmons struck out the next Harding batter and had a 1-2 count on Chris Witzke, needing only one strike for a Ouachita series sweep. Witzke fouled off the next two pitches before lining the next offering into left-center field. Ouachita leftfielder Cade Burris raced to his left but the ball hit off his glove and both Hefley and Butterfield scored to give the Bisons an 8-7 lead.

Harding reliever Ryder Yakel (1-0) set down Ouachita in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win. Yakel pitched 5.0 innings and allowed only a one-out, solo homer to Cade McBride in the seventh. Before the homer, Yakel pitched 32 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run, dating to the 2019 season.

Ouachita scored four runs in the first inning, and Harding trailed 6-0 entering the sixth when the comeback began. The Bisons used three singles, four walks and a wild pitch to score five times in the inning, four coming after two outs.

Smith walked with the bases loaded to score Luke Van Dover. Caleb Stull scored Harrison Hefley with a sacrifice fly. Witzke and Michael Chrisman had run-scoring singles, and Witzke scored the fifth run on a wild pitch.

Harding had 14 hits, all singles, with Smith and Witzke collecting three each. Hefley and Butterfield had two hits, and along with Chrisman, extended their hitting streaks to seven games. Butterfield has had multiple hits in six of Harding's seven outings and has a .593 batting average with a team-high 10 runs scored.
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