SE Tripped up in Series Finale Against HU

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern allowed 14 free passes on Saturday and was unable to find an answer to a big eighth inning by Harding in a 12-7 loss in the series finale at Mike Metheny Field.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 3-3 overall on the year and 0-3 to open Great American Conference play.
 
The team will be back on the field for its second-straight home series March 5-6 when it hosts Southern Nazarene for a three-game set.
 
Seth Morrow and Slayde Ortiz each collected a pair of hits, with Ortiz connecting on a home runs while Morrow doubled twice.
 
Richard Ware, Blake McQuain, and Dylan Herd each added a hit.
 
Ortiz finished with four RBI in the contest, while Morrow drove in two and Ware added an RBI.
 
Tyler Dean got the start and was tagged for five runs, four earned, on three hits over 3.2 innings while striking out two and walking two with two hit batters.
 
Jacob Bigham came on in relief and scattered three hits, two walks and one strikeout in 3.1 innings.
 
Coby Langford followed with one-third of an inning but allowed three runs, two earned, with two walks in taking the loss.
 
Logan Teske followed with one-third of an inning of work as well, allowing two runs on a hit with two walks.
 
Kenneth Klier would finish that inning with one-third of an inning, hitting one of the three batters he faced.
 
Beau Swimmer came on to start the ninth and allowed two runs on a hit with three walks before KC Bryan recorded the final out, striking out the only batter he faced.
 
After the first two hitters singled, Dean took control in the top of the first, striking out one and coaxing a pair of line outs, including one back to himself to strand a pair of runners.
 
The Bisons would take advantage of a Storm error in the second inning, scoring an unearned run to take an early 1-0 lead.
 
SE would get its answer in the bottom of the third inning as Herd would lead off with a single and move to second on a Matt Miles sac bunt. Ware was hit by a pitch a batter later and Morrow plated both Herd and Ware on a double down the right field line to put the Storm in front 2-1 after three innings.
 
The lead would not last long however, as HU took advantage of two hit batters and two walks to put up four runs in the top of the fourth, needing just two hits to do so and taking a 5-2 lead.
 
The Storm would creep back in the bottom of the sixth inning as Morrow would lead off with a walk and score three batters later on a two-run homer down the right field line by Ortiz, closing the gap to 5-4.
 
In the seventh, a Ware double would plater Matt Miles to tie the game, and after loading the bases, Ortiz would draw a walk to drive in Ware and put SE ahead 6-5.
 
That lead would be short lived however as the Bisons would answer with five runs on two hits in the top of the eighth, taking advantage of four walks, a hit batter, and an error, taking a 10-6 lead.
 
HU would tack on two more runs in the top of the ninth, while SE added one more run in the bottom of the ninth on an Ortiz double that plated Morrow to fashion the final of 12-7.