Baseball Drops Both Ends of Saturday Twinbill

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern closed out its first home series of the season with a pair of losses on Saturday afternoon to Arkansas-Fort Smith, dropping Saturday's opener 3-1 before falling in the finale 13-6.
 
The losses drop the Savage Storm to 1-6 to open the year as the team will return to the road for a midweek rematch with Northeastern State on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. in Tahlequah, Okla.
 
In game one, Gage Dollins collected a pair of hits, while Payton Poole, Wesley Mitchell, Chase Keeton and Ryan Kirk had one apiece.
 
Poole's hit was a solo homer, while Dollins and Keeton each added doubles.
 
Poole's homer accounted for the lone Rbi of the game for the Storm.
 
Daniel Collins got the start and tossed 5.0 innings while taking the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits with six strikeouts.
 
Brock Zimmer followed with two scoreless innings of work, allowing two hits and striking out two.
 
UAFS took the lead in the top of the second on a two-run double.
 
Poole responded in the bottom of the fourth, cutting the deficit in half on a solo homer, but the Lions tacked on a run in the fifth to extend the lead to 3-1.
 
The Storm loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but were unable to bring in any runs, leaving the final at 3-1.
 
In the finale, Dollins again picked up two hits, while Carter Olson also finished with two to lead the SE offense.
 
Colton Sagely, Isaac Shaw, Coby Grimsley, Jake Miller, and Nick Mueller added a hit each.
 
Dollins and Olson each doubled, while Grimsley and Mueller each added homers.
 
Grimsley and Mueller each logged three RBI on three-run homers which accounted for all of Southeastern's scoring.
 
Colton Clawson got the start and suffered the loss after allowing six runs, two of them earned, on four hits over two innings.
 
The Storm followed with three pitchers over 1.1 innings, allowing four more runs, two of them earned, before handing the ball to Austin Hillebrandt who allowed a run on two hits in a full inning of work.
 
Tristan Mills followed with 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings before Corbin Lingo closed out the game, allowing two runs on three hits in an inning on the hill.
 
UAFS took advantage of a pair of Storm errors in the top of the first inning, putting up four runs to take the lead early.
 
Southeastern responded with back-to-back singles to open the bottom half of the inning before Grimsley connected on a three-run homer to left to close the gap to 4-3.
 
Unfortunately, the Lions followed with two in the second, three in the third and one each in the fourth and fifth inning to take a 11-3 lead.
 
Southeastern cut into that gap in the bottom of the sixth as Mueller connected on a homer to center field that closed the deficit to 11-6.
 
However, that was as close it would get as UAFS tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh to make the final 13-6.