March 6, 2020
By SCOTT GOODE/HARDING SPORTS INFORMATION
SEARCY – Harding baseball scored in five consecutive innings Friday and defeated Southeastern Oklahoma 7-2 in game one of its three-game Great American Conference series at Jerry Moore Field.
The win was Harding’s ninth straight overall and fifth straight in the GAC and moved the Bisons to 16-5 overall and 7-3 in conference games. The Bisons moved into second place in the GAC standings, one game back of leader Oklahoma Baptist. Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma (10-10, 3-7) conclude the series with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.
Trailing 1-0 entering in the bottom of the fourth, Harding tied the game on a Connor Kelly single that scored Miles Humphreys.
Harding took the lead for good in the fifth on a Michael Chrisman RBI single that plated Brendan Perrett.
The Bisons took a 4-1 lead with two more in the sixth. The runs came on a Cody Smith sacrifice fly and Chris Witzke’s single that scored Kelly.
Kelly had another RBI single in the seventh to give the Bisons a 5-2 lead. In the eighth, Harding tacked on two more on three consecutive doubles from Owen Martin, Perrett and Chrisman.
Harding starter Andrew Bradshaw (4-2) allowed single runs in the second and sixth innings but worked out of trouble both times, stranding the bases loaded on both occasions.
Bradshaw struck out six and got eight groundball outs, throwing 90 pitches over six innings.
Ryder Yakel came on in the seventh and retired nine straight hitters, six by strikeout. He threw 27 of his 37 pitches for strikes and had 10 swings and misses.
Southeastern starter Jacob Potter (3-3), the reigning GAC Pitcher of the Week, lasted six innings and allowed four runs (two earned) with five strikeouts and took the loss.
Kelly led Harding, going 3-for-4 with a run and two RBIs. He leads the team with eight multi-hit games and seven multi-RBI games. Chrisman and Perrett had two hits each.
Harding had 12 hits, the sixth time in the last seven games the Bisons had 10 or more.