ENID, Okla. – No. 4 seed Harding defeated No. 5 seed Ouachita Baptist 11-1 on Thursday morning in the Great American Conference Tournament at David Allen Ballpark.
Harding (35-16) scored in four of the six innings they came to bat. After Nathan Bowie tripled to lead off the bottom of the first, Collin Helms doubled him home to give Harding an early 1-0 lead. Harding improved to 22-5 this season when scoring first. It was just the beginning of a banner day for Bowie.
In the second, Harrison Griffith hit a solo home run that cleared the batter's eye in straight-away center field. It was his fourth home run of the season. Chance Resetich followed with another home run, his fourth of the year, that smashed off the windows of an old school bus sitting just beyond the left field wall. It was the third time this season Harding has hit back-to-back home runs. The three home runs by Harding in the game gave them 56 for the season, breaking the previous record of 54 by the 2005 team.
The Bisons broke the game open in the fifth inning, scoring six runs. With one out, Cooper Newsom singled, Griffith singled, and Resetich hit a sacrifice fly to score Newsom. Ty Kirkbride singled, and then Coulton Doyle reached on a wild pitch that scored Kirkbride. Bowie then doubled to right-center, driving in both runners. Logan Lacey capped the inning with a two-run home run to left field. It was his 13th home run of the season, tying for third-most in a Harding single season. The score was 9-0 after five innings.
Harding added two more unearned runs in the sixth on RBI hits from Doyle and Bowie. Earlier in the game, Doyle walked for the 128th time in his career, setting a new school record.
Ouachita Baptist (24-24) scored its only run in the top of the seventh. Reece McWilliams was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a single by Austin Gathright, and scored on a fielder's choice RBI by Connor Hill. Harding pitcher Maddox Long had pitched 14 scoreless innings against Ouachita, including the regular season, before the Tigers scored in the top of the seventh.
Long (11-3) earned the win for Harding, becoming the first Harding pitcher ever with 11 wins in a season. It was the 29th win of his career. Chase Oberle (5-5) took the loss for Ouachita Baptist.
Bowie led Harding's offense, going 5-for-5 with three doubles, a triple, and three RBIs. It was his first career five-hit game and the first five-hit game ever by a Harding player at the GAC Tournament. His second career three-double game, Bowie's 10 total bases were the most ever by a Harding player at the GAC Tournament.
Harding advances to meet the winner of the Arkansas Tech vs. Southeastern Oklahoma game on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Ouachita Baptist plays the loser of that game on Friday at 9:30 a.m.
