The Ouachita Tiger baseball team is back above .500 and is currently riding a five game win streak after a doubleheader sweep of Southern Nazarene on the road. The Tigers and Crimson Storm (12-21, 6-17 GAC) faced off on Saturday afternoon, with the Tigers winning the first by a score of 5-1 and the second game by a score of 3-2.
The first game of the afternoon found the Tigers (17-16-1, 9-11 GAC) facing a 1-0 deficit after the third inning of play, but they weren’t disheartened, as their offensive surge was to come later in the match-up.
The Tigers finally got on the board in the fifth. They scored their first run of the game off of an RBI single from Keegan Ghidotti that scored Landon Flax. Chris Tavares followed up Ghidotti’s single with one of his own, scoring Duncan Collins and Ghidotti and giving his team a 3-1 lead.
The Tigers kept SNU scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, before a solo home run from Landon Moore gave the Tigers an even more comfortable lead. The Tigers weren’t done yet though, as Tavares, who finished the game 3-of-5 with three RBIs, came through with another RBI single that scored Ghidotti.
Davis Ward took the win for the Tigers on the mound, moving to 8-2 on the year with an eight inning performance in which he struck out 14 and only gave up one run. He didn’t walk a batter during the game.
The second win of the day for the Tigers came after a two run homer from Flax gave the team a 3-2 lead in the last inning of play.
Southern Nazarene scored a run in the second and another in the third, before the Tigers finally scored their first run of the game in the fourth, when McCrae Jones singled down the left field line and scored Ghidotti on the play.
The most important runs of the game, as previously mentioned, came in the top of the seventh though, when Landon Flax homered to right field, scoring Parker Norris and himself, and gave his team the lead for the first time in the game.
Southern Nazarene got two runners on base, one from a hit and one from a Tiger error, advancing them all the way to second and third. The Tigers warded off the late rally from the Crimson Storm though, and went on to win the game by a score of 3-2.
Josh Reeves recorded the win on the mound, throwing 3.1 innings and recording five strikeouts while only allowing a single hit. Flax finished the game 2-of-4 from the plate, with two RBIs and a run scored.
The Tigers and Crimson Storm face off on Sunday, albeit from a different venue due to field work taking place on their home field. Sunday’s games will take place at Putnam City High School, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
