Storm Baseball Pounds ECU, 22-4

ADA, Okla. – Southeastern kept its postseason hopes alive as it clubbed out 23 hits and scored 18 runs over the final four innings to win the series opener over rival East Central 22-4 on Friday afternoon in Ada, Okla.
 
The win lifts the Savage Storm to 22-19 overall on the year and 15-13 in Great American Conference play, helping to keep its postseason hopes alive as the Storm need to sweep its season-finale series and get help from other teams in the fight to advance to the conference tournament.
 
Cody Nitson struck out 10 for the second time in his last three outings, allowing four runs, three earned, on eight hits over eight innings to pick up the win.
 
Kenneth Klier tossed the final inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.
 
Caleb Dubler collected a game-high five hits to lead the way, while Colton Buckner and Slayde Ortiz added three hits apiece.
 
Austin Ferguson, Luke Thomas, Harrison Whitworth, and Bryce Deatherage each added two hits as 11 players to come to the plate for SE picked up a hit.
 
Ortiz posted five RBI in the game, while Ferguson, Dubler, and Thomas drove in three apiece.  Jacoby Adkins and Hunter Capps each drove in two with four others adding one each.
 
Ortiz put SE on the board in the first with a two-run single to right-center that scored Caleb Dubler and Colton Buckner for a 2-0 lead.
 
Ferguson would double that lead to 4-0 with a two-run single to center in the second inning, plating Dubler and Drew Bolin.
 
ECU would get a pair of fourth-inning runs to cut the Storm advantage in half to 4-2.
 
A pair of singles and a walk would load the bases for the Storm with one out before Davis Jenks and Ortiz each drew a walk, setting the stage for a three-run double from Thomas to stretch the lead to 9-2.
 
The Tigers picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth, but Ferguson would have the answer for the Storm with an RBI single in the seventh to push the lead back to 10-3
 
A Dubler two-run double in the eighth would plate Bolin and Deatherage to take a 12-3 lead, before ECU tacked on another run to close to 12-4 heading to the ninth.
 
Ortiz picked up another RBI and back-to-back RBI singles from Whitworth and Deatherage would push the lead out to 15-4.
 
Another Dubler RBI hit was followed by an Adkins two-run single and a Capps RBI triple to push the lead out to 20-4.
 
SE would add a run when Ortiz reached on an error and one final run on a McCain Mason RBI single to set the final score at 22-4.