Wonder Boys Clinch Share of GAC Title

www.arkansastechsports.com. One University of Arkansas-Monticello loss to Southern Arkansas University on Saturday would also allow Arkansas Tech to win the GAC title outright. Those two teams will play a doubleheader in Magnolia. One victory on Saturday would also allow the Wonder Boys to earn their first-ever 40-win baseball season. Tech’s win at Harding on Friday allowed the Wonder Boys to extend their school record winning streak to 20 consecutive games. Arkansas Tech did all of its offensive damage in the top of the third inning. Consecutive singles by James Sharp, Sage Boehner and Chance Scamardo to begin the inning set the table for a three-run rally. Kris Ayers drove in a run with a single, Boehner scored on a balk and Zac Johnson delivered a sacrifice fly as the Wonder Boys took a 3-1 lead. Harding’s Trent Wooldridge notched an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth inning to pull the Bisons within 3-2, but Arkansas Tech starting pitcher Ryan Taylor retired the next two batters to strand Harding base runners at first and third. Two walks and a hit batsman allowed the Bisons to load the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Trent Armstrong preserved Tech’s one-run lead by inducing a pop out to second base by John Chapman. Harding mounted one more scoring threat in the bottom of the seventh inning. Wooldridge got his fourth and final hit of the day and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Erin McCarver. After Matt Calhoun was intentionally walked, Arkansas Tech reliever Jake Bell got James Anderson to hit into an inning-ending double play. Bell set the Bisons down in order in the eighth inning. Randy Vallejo pitched around a one-out single by Chapman in the bottom of the ninth for his school-record 15th save of the season. Taylor (5-2) earned the win by holding Harding to two runs on four hits over five and one-third innings.]]>