24 Apr 2024 Harding starts fast, scores big late in victory at Ouachita

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – With a weekend series that could decide the Great American Conference champion, Harding opened the door with three early runs and slammed it shut with eight runs in the last two innings of a 12-4 trouncing of Ouachita Baptist at Rab Rodgers Field.

It was Harding’s 10th straight win and pushed the Bisons to 31-14 overall. Including all three games in its sweep of East Central last weekend, Harding has scored 10 or more runs in four straight games for the first time since April 19-23, 2022.

Harding scored three runs on only one hit, a Cooper Newsom RBI double, in the first and led until Ouachita (26-19) tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth.

Harding immediately jumped back on top with Newsom’s fifth home run of the season, a solo shot with one out in the fifth.

The Bisons tacked on three more in the eighth, with two coming in on Ty Kirkbride’s single up the middle. Harding dropped the hammer in the ninth with five more. The big blow was a two-run double from Drew McNeel. Coulton Doyle and Nathan Bowie also had RBI singles.

Keaton Baird (2-1) had his second straight solid start for the Bisons. He allowed only one earned run over five innings and struck out four. In his last two starts, he has yielded only two earned runs over 11 innings with nine strikeouts and only three walks.

Four Harding relievers combined to allow only one more earned run over the last four innings, striking out five with no walks.

Newsom and Logan Lacey both extended their hitting streaks to eight games, and Newsom has reached in 16 straight contests.

This weekend Harding, currently in second place in the GAC, takes on leader Arkansas Tech in a three-game series at Jerry Moore Field. The series is currently scheduled to begin Friday with a Saturday doubleheader, but changes could come due to weather.