Arkansas Tech University’s hopes for a seventh consecutive postseason appearance in baseball were dealt a setback on Friday and Saturday when Southwestern Oklahoma State University swept a three-game Great American Conference series from the Wonder Boys at Tech Field in Russellville.
With the losses, Arkansas Tech (17-26 overall, 9-18 GAC) dropped into ninth place in the race for a berth in the GAC Tournament. Only the top eight eligible teams in the final regular season standings will qualify for the league’s postseason.
The Wonder Boys have two regular season GAC series remaining — at Northwestern Oklahoma State University on April 22-23 and at Harding University on April 29-30.
Tech will play a non-conference game against Southern Arkansas University on Tuesday, April 19. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Tech Field. It will be the Wonder Boys’ final scheduled home game of 2016.
Game One: SWOSU 5, Tech 1
Southwestern Oklahoma State starting pitcher Jon Chidester struck out 14 batters in a complete-game 5-1 win over Arkansas Tech on Friday night.
Chidester (7-3) limited the Wonder Boys to one run on six hits over nine innings.
Lead-off hitter Tanner Dearman sparked the SWOSU offense by going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
Arkansas Tech starting pitcher Zach Skelton (3-6) was charged with four runs, three of which were earned, on nine hits. Skelton struck out five in seven innings of work.
Kaleb Warden hit a solo home run for the Wonder Boys.
Game Two: SWOSU 14, Tech 3
Southwestern Oklahoma State rapped out 14 base hits in a 14-3 defeat of Arkansas Tech in the opener of a Saturday doubleheader.
Jacob Spring was 4-for-4 with three home runs and six runs batted in for the Bulldogs.
SWOSU starting pitcher Gunnar Cook (7-3) allowed three runs, one of which was earned, on seven hits over seven innings.
Lane Norwood (1-1) was the losing pitcher. He started for Tech and went two and one-third innings, allowing four runs on four hits.
Parker O’Dell, Collin O’Neil and Seth Wheeler had one RBI apiece for the Wonder Boys.
Game Three: SWOSU 5, Tech 4
Zach Barton scored what proved to be the winning run on an Arkansas Tech error to lift Southwestern Oklahoma State to a 5-4 win in the series finale on Saturday.
The Wonder Boys led 4-1 after four innings, but Dearman had an RBI single and Spring hit a two-run home run to tie the score at 4-4 and ultimately force extra innings in what was scheduled to be a seven-inning game.
After Barton’s run gave the Bulldogs the lead in the top of the eighth, SWOSU closer Quinton Dougherty pitched around a Lonnie Hawkins single in the bottom of the eighth to earn his fifth save of the season.
Trent Armstrong (4-6) went the distance on the mound for Arkansas Tech. He allowed five runs, four of which were earned, on seven hits while striking out eight.
Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Jeremy Smith (2-1) collected the win with two and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief.
