SEARCY – Throughout Harding's Great American Conference Tournament game on Saturday against Northwestern Oklahoma, the Bisons grappled with delivering the decisive hit in crucial moments. They left two runners on base in the second, third, seventh, and eighth innings. However, everything took a turn in the ninth inning.
Drew McNeel kickstarted the inning with a walk.
Ty Kirkbride successfully executed a two-strike bunt to advance him to second base, setting the stage for
Nathan Bowie. Bowie ignited a long-awaited celebration with a single to right field, bringing McNeel home and sealing a 2-1 victory. This win propels Harding to the GAC Championship Tournament later this week at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
This victory marked the second win in the best-of-three series, following Harding's 10-7 triumph in the opener on Friday. Although Saturday's game was scheduled for 1 p.m., it commenced more than four and a half hours later due to prolonged lightning and over two hours of field preparation. Adding to the challenges, the game began without power in the stadium due to an outage on the south side of Harding's campus. Despite these delays and potential excuses for subpar play, both teams delivered an entertaining performance.
The pitching from both sides was exceptional. Harding's starter,
Davis Welch, entered the game with a strategy to keep the ball dry. Over eight innings, Welch struck out eight batters and induced 15 ground ball outs. Only one of his 24 outs resulted from a fly ball, which was an infield popup. Northwestern managed to score only one run in the sixth inning, but Welch effectively minimized the damage. He retired the next six batters before allowing a single to lead off the ninth inning.
Griffin Meeker, the sidewinding reliever, entered the game and induced a double-play grounder just four pitches later, concluding the inning with a slow roller to McNeel at second base. This set the stage for Bowie's heroic performance in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Meeker secured the win, improving his record to 6-1. With this victory, Harding's overall record advanced to 35-15, marking the second-highest win total in an HU single season, trailing only the 42 wins achieved by the 2011 NCAA regional team.
According to the GAC website, Harding is scheduled to play the second of two games on Thursday, May 9, at 5 p.m. at Dickey-Stephens Park against the winner of the Ouachita Baptist/Arkansas Tech series. Currently, Ouachita and Tech are tied 1-1 in the series, with Tech leading Ouachita 3-2 in the fourth inning of a suspended game.
