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Harding University Athletics

Harding Baseball
0
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24 0-1
7
Winner Harding HU 3-1
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24
0-1
0
Final
7
Harding HU
3-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Harding HU 0 5 0 0 0 2 0 0 X 7 6 0

W: Long, Maddox (2-0) L: Eli Smock (0-1)

3
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24 0-2
11
Winner Harding HU 4-1
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24
0-2
3
Final
11
Harding HU
4-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Southwest Baptist SBUBB24 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 7 1
Harding HU 1 1 1 0 8 0 X 11 12 1

W: Jay, Merritt (1-0) L: Cade Langford (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Scott Goode (2/9/24)

Harding Pitchers Rack Up Historic Strikeout Totals in Doubleheader Sweep

SEARCY – Harding pitchers combined for 31 strikeouts in a doubleheader sweep of Southwest Baptist on Friday at Jerry Moore Field. Maddox Long and Keaton Baird teamed up for 15 Ks in Harding's 7-0 win in the opener, and Will Roguske and Merritt Jay fanned 16 in Harding's 11-3 victory in game two.

The strikeout totals both rank in the top five single-game performances in program history. The 16-strikeout game is tied for third all-time with the 15-strikeout game tied for fifth. Harding set the school record with 18 strikeouts against Southwest Baptist in 2003.

Offensively, Sebastian Martinez cranked a grand slam in Harding's five-run second inning in game one, and Sawyer Price added an RBI double in the two-run sixth inning. Price and Collin Helms had two hits each for the Bisons.

Long (2-0) earned the win with only one hit, an infield single, allowed in seven innings. He walked one and struck out a career-high 11, including five straight in the first and second innings. Freshman Keaton Baird entered in the eighth and struck out four in two scoreless innings.

Harding and Southwest Baptist were tied 3-3 four innings of game two. The Bisons' first run came on Coulton Doyle's opposite field solo homer in the first, his second home run of the season.

Harding blew the game open with eight runs in the bottom of the fifth. Martinez opened the scoring in the inning with a single to right past a drawn-in infield. Collin Helms doubled and scored on Martinez's hit and ended the inning with a three-run bases loaded triple, scoring the final run of the frame on a Southwest Baptist error.

Eight of Harding's nine hitters in the lineup had at least one hit, with Logan Lacey going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

But the real story was on the mound. Roguske struck out four in three innings before giving way to Jay (1-0), who set a Harding record for strikeouts by a reliever, fanning 12 over four innings. He was so unhittable, he struck out four in one inning with a batter reaching after striking out when the ball eluded the catcher. Only one out that he recorded came on a batted ball.

The teams are scheduled to play two seven-inning games in a doubleheader Saturday. The games will start at 10 a.m. with bad weather expected later in the day.
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