Baseball Completes Sweep of NWOSU

ALVA, Okla. – Southeastern closed out a three-game road sweep of Northwestern Oklahoma State by opening Saturday with a 10-7 victory before finishing the series with an 8-3 win in Alva, Okla.
 
The win is the team's third-straight and seventh win in their last eight games as the Savage Storm make a late-season push to reach the Great American Conference tournament.
 
SE improves to 21-19 overall and 14-13 in GAC play heading into a midweek twinbill versus Arkansas-Ft. Smith in the home finale on Tuesday at Mike Metheny Field.
 
Austin Ferguson led the way in game one with a four-hit performance including a pair of home runs and four RBI.
 
Slayde Ortiz checked in with three hits, while Drew Bolin and Davis Jenks had two apiece.
 
Caleb Dubler, Colton Buckner, and Luke Thomas posted a hit each.
 
Bryce Deatherage added two RBI to Ferguson's four, while Bolin, Jenks, Ortiz, and Harrison Whitworth each added an RBI.
 
Logan Teske got the start and tossed 4.0 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits with one strikeout.
 
Jenks tossed three innings in relief and earned his second win of the year after allowing a run on three hits with two strikeouts.
 
Beau Swimmer followed with 1.2 innings of work and was tagged for three runs on five hits before Jordan Compton came on to toss the final one-third of an inning, allowing a hit but picking up the save.
 
Southeastern struck first in game one as a two-run homer from Ferguson and a solo shot from Jenks staked the Storm to a 3-0 lead through half an inning.
 
NWOSU would answer with a run in the bottom half of the inning to cut the Storm advantage to 3-1.
 
Deatherage would plate Slayde Ortiz in the top of the fourth on a sac fly to center and a batter later Bolin connected on an RBI single to center to plate Luke Thomas for a 5-1 lead midway through the fourth.
 
The Rangers would get one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning to make the advantage 5-2.
 
NWOSU would add another run in the fifth, but SE would explode for four runs in the sixth, starting with a Ferguson RBI single to plate Bolin.
 
That was followed by an Ortiz RBI single to score Buckner to take a 7-3 lead.
 
After loading the bases SE would get an RBI-HBP from Whitworth and a bases-loaded walk from Deatherage to stretch the edge to 9-3 after six innings.
 
The Rangers picked up a run in the seventh, but a solo homer by Ferguson would give the Storm a 10-4 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth.
 
NWOSU threatened with a three-run rally, but Swimmer would coax a groundout for the final out to preserve a 10-7 victory.
 
Ortiz posted a trio of hits in the finale to lead the offense, while Bolin and Thomas added two each.
 
Ferguson, Buckner, and Chris Eusay each picked up a hit as well.
 
Ortiz and Thomas each drove in a pair of runs, while Bolin, Caleb Dubler, Ferguson, and Buckner added one each.
 
Deatherage got the start on the hill and tossed a complete game for the victory, allowing three runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
 
In the finale, a first inning Buckner double would get the Storm on the board by scoring Bolin, and was followed two batters later by a two-run Ortiz double to plate Buckner and Ferguson for a 3-0 lead.
 
Ferguson connected on a solo homer to lead off the third inning, but NWOSU would pick up a run in the bottom half to cut the Storm lead to 4-1.
 
A solo homer for the Rangers in the fourth would trim the lead further to 4-2, but a two-run dingle by Thomas in the top of the fifth would plate Buckner and Ferguson to stretch the lead to 6-2.
 
A sixth-inning Bolin triple would score Chris Eusay and a batter later Bolin would come home on a Dubler sac fly to push the lead to 8-2.
 
NWOSU would tack on a run in the seventh to cut the gap and make the final score 8-3.