Southeastern Splits Road Twinbill at ATU

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Brady Evans homered and drove in four runs to lift Southeastern to an 11-5 win in the series opener versus Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Russellville, Ark., but the Savage Storm would have to settle for a split in the doubleheader after dropping game two 11-4.
 
The split moves the Savage Storm to 10-14 overall on the season and 8-6 in Great American Conference play heading into the rubber match of the series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
 
Brady Evans and Colton Sagely each collected three hits to lead the way in game one, while Wesley Mitchell and Austin Thorp each added two hits.
 
Gage Dollins, Chase Keeton, and Alex Showalter picked up one hit apiece.
 
Evans homered once and doubled twice, and Mitchell doubled once while Thorp added a solo homer.
 
Evans drove in four runs on the contest, with Showalter added two RBI, with Ryan Kirk, Mitchell, Sagely, and Thorp plating an RBI each.
 
Daniel Collins tossed 6.1 innings and collected the win after allowing five runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts.
 
Cody Pfeffer threw the final 2.2 innings and allowed no run on just one hit with five strikeouts.
 
Evans put the Storm on the board two batters into the opening contest with a solo homer to left center, taking a 1-0 lead.
 
That lead held until the fourth inning when the SE offense extended it, starting with Dollins scoring on an error following a ball put in play by Colton Sagely.
 
Three batters later Kirk drove in a run with an RBI groundout and was immediately followed by a two-run double by Evans that pushed the lead to 5-0 midway through the fourth.
 
The Wonder Boys clawed two runs back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double and a RBI single, cutting the Storm lead to 5-2.
 
Not getting too comfortable, the Storm put its first two runners of the fifth inning on and pushed them to second and third with one out when Showalter connected on a two-run single to extend the lead to 7-2.
 
Two batters later with the bases loaded, Evans collected another double, this one driving in two runs and pushing the lead to 9-2.
 
One batter later a Mitchell RBI double would plate Evans to make the score 10-2 midway through five innings.
 
ATU swiped a run back in the bottom of the sixth, but Southeastern had an answer in the top of the seventh as Thorp connected on a solo home run to right center to push the lead to 11-3.
 
The wonder Boys scored two runs on an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, leaving SE leading 11-5 through seven complete.
 
SE would face the minimum over the final two innings to pick up the 11-5 victory.
 
In the nightcap, Showalter and Thorp each collected two hits, while Evans, Mitchell, Sagely, and Keeton each added one.
 
Mitchell drove in a pair of runs as did Showalter.
 
Brock Zimmer got the start and lasted 1.1 innings, allowing two runs on two hits in a no decision.
 
Carson Abbott followed in relief and took the loss, tossing two-thirds of an inning and allowing three runs on three hits.
 
Parker Pecina followed with 1.1 innings of work, allowing six runs on six hits.
 
Jordan Brown, Ryan Farquharson, and Corbin Lingo combined for the final 1.2 innings, allowing no runs on one hit.
 
In game two, Mitchell staked Southeastern to a 2-0 lead three batters in with a two-run homer.
 
ATU cut the Storm advantage in half in the bottom of the first with a solo homer.
 
The Wonder Boys followed with three runs in the second, another in the third and six in the fourth to push out to an 11-2 lead through four innings.
 
Southeastern put runners in scoring position in the fifth and seventh innings, with  two-run Showalter single in the seventh providing the only additional runs as the Storm dropped game two 11-4.