Baseball Bisons Big Fifth Leads to 7-6 Victory at Southern Nazarene
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March 23, 2018
BETHANY, Okla. – Harding baseball scored six runs in the fifth inning and held off Southern Nazarene 7-6 for its fifth win in the last six games. The two teams will conclude the Great American Conference series tomorrow with a doubleheader at noon.
Harding improved to 12-16 overall and 5-11 in the GAC. Southern Nazarene dropped to 9-15 overall and is tied with Harding at 5-11 in conference. Harding has now won three straight games by one run.
Harding's Grant Guest led off the game with a single and scored three batters later on Luke Van Dover's infield hit.
A pair of Harding errors led to an unearned run in the first and another in the third for Southern Nazarene. The Crimson Storm led 2-1 until the fifth.
In the top of the fifth, Harding used five hits and two walks to score six runs. The runs scored on five consecutive at-bats. Chris Taylor walked with the bases loaded to push across the first. Van Dover singled to drive in the second run. Zach Beasley doubled in two more to give Harding a 5-2 lead. Connor Kelly's infield single and David Butterfield's single to center drove in the next two runs, and Harding led 7-2 after five.
Southern Nazarene came back with four runs in the sixth, scoring all four runs with two outs. Jake Vernon hit a two-run home run, Cole Lee drove in a run with a double and the final run scored on Harding's third error to cut the Bison lead to 7-6.
Harding starting pitcher Austin Allen came out of the game after the fourth run scored. Allen (2-4) went 5 2/3 innings and allowed nine hits and six runs (three earned) with two walks and three strikeouts in earning the win. Mason Faulkner pitched the final 3 1/3 innings and held Southern Nazarene without a run and only three hits. He earned his first save of the season.
Harding had 12 hits with five players tallying two hits apiece. Beasley was 2-for-5 with a run, two RBIs and his second career two-double game. Van Dover also had two hits and two RBIs.
Garrett Perez and Austin Cooper led Southern Nazarene with three hits each.
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