Storm Baseball Drops Opener in Walkoff Fashion

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Despite an eighth inning rally to tie the game, Southeastern saw its hopes of a win in the series opener at Arkansas Tech dashed by a one-out home run in the bottom of the ninth to fall 5-4 on Friday night in Russellville, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 9-20-1 overall on the season and 8-12 in Great American Conference play with a double-header to close out the series with the Wonder Boys slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
 
Travis Spinney finished the contest 2-for-3 with a home run, while Cade Clay added a double and a pair of RBI.
 
Four others each added a hit, while Hunter Harrison chipped in an RBI as well.
 
Scott Richards got the start and tossed 4.0 innings while allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
Tristen Wood tossed 1.2 innings in relief and was tagged for a pair of runs on no hits, with Michael Brinska following and recording one-third of an inning.
 
Jake Patterson would follow with an inning pitched as well with a strikeout before Brandon Wolski came on to throw 1.1 innings, striking out one but allowing the game winning run and taking the loss.
 
Spinney led off the contest with a solo homer to open up a 1-0 lead, but the Wonder Boys would answer with a run in the bottom half to tie the game at 1-1.
 
ATU would add another run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to gain the lead and held a 4-1 advantage heading to the eighth inning.
 
Two of the first three batters singled to open the eighth for the Storm and Clay would follow with a two run double to close the gap to 4-3.
 
One batter later Harrison closed it even further, tying the game 4-4 on an RBI single that plated Clay.
 
However, The Storm was unable to get a run across in the top half of the ninth and ATU would take advantage with a one-out walkoff homer in the bottom half to hand SE a 5-4 loss.