Baseball Stumbles in Series Opener at HU

SEARCY, Ark. – Four unearned runs and eight runners left on base left Southeastern in a hole too deep to rally out of on Friday night as it dropped the series opener on the road to Harding by a 9-5 score in Searcy, Ark.
 
The loss drops the Savage Storm to 17-10 overall on the season and 10-6 in Great American Conference play with the final two games of the series slated for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
 
JJ Bush led the Storm offense with a pair of hits, one of them a home run, and a pair of RBI.
 
Carter Olson added two hits, while Isaac Vila, Ryan Kirk, Easton Ford, Logan Rose, and Jax Heid each collected a hit.
 
Kirk and Ford each doubled, while Heid added two RBI and Ford plated one.
 
Dylan Hill got the start and logged seven innings while taking the loss, allowing seven runs, three earned, on eight hits with four strikeouts.
 
Colton Clawson tossed the final inning and was tagged for two runs on three hits.
 
Villa opened the game getting hit by a pitch and moved to third on a Kirk double.
 
A batter later Bush brought him home on an RBI single to left, putting the Storm in front 1-0.
 
That lead held until the third inning when HU took advantage of an SE error and put six runs on the board, taking a 6-1 lead through three innings.
 
Heid plated a run on an RBI fielder's choice in the top of the fourth and Bush homered to lead off the fifth, closing the gap to 6-3.
 
The Bisons tacked on a run in the bottom of the fifth and both teams were quiet until the eighth.
 
Ford and Heid drove in runs in the top of the inning, cutting the deficit to 7-5, but HU answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to push the lead to 9-5.
 
SE led off the ninth inning with a single but was unable to cut into the difference, leaving the score 9-5.