Storm Baseball Splits Saturday Twinbill at Harding

SEARCY, Ark. – Southeastern piled up 24 hits on the day over two games, cruising to a 16-8 win in Saturday's opener over Harding, but saw its chance at a doubleheader sweep end when a seventh-inning rally fell a run short in a 4-3 loss in the finale in Searcy, Ark.
 
The split moves the Savage Storm to 18-11 overall on the season and 11-7 in Great American Conference play.
 
SE collected 13 hits and drew 11 walks in game one on Saturday, with Logan Rose leading the way with three hits.
 
Isaac Villa and Alex Showalter each had a pair of hits, while JJ Bush, Carter Olson, Tyler Payton, Easton Ford, Seve Aguirre, and Jax Heid each had one.
 
Bush and Heid each drew three walks, with Ryan Kirk picking up two.
 
Bush collected the team's only extra base hit in the game, connecting on a home run.
 
Rose led the way with four RBI, while Villa added three.
 
Kirk and Bush each drove in two, while Payton, Ford, Aguirre, and Showalter plated one each.
 
Daniel Colins got the start and took a no decision after tossing 1.2 innings and allowing six runs on seven hits.
 
Estevan Fonseca collected the win and moved to 4-1 on the season after throwing 5.1 innings in relief and allowing a run on three hits with three strikeouts.
 
Carson Abbott closed the contest with two innings pitched, allowing a run on a hit with one strikeout.
 
HU jumped in front early with four runs in the bottom of the first inning and two more in the second to open a 6-0 lead through two innings.
 
SE answered in the third with an RBI from Kirk, but the Bisons would tack on another run to make the score 7-1 through three.
 
The Storm offense got moving in the top of the fourth, scoring a pair on a Rose two-run single followed by an RBI single from Showalter and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Villa to close the gap to 7-5
 
An inning later Ford added a sac fly and Rose drove in another run to knot the game at 7-7 midway through the fifth inning.
 
That held up until the seventh inning when Southeastern broke the tie on a Villa two-run single.
 
Kirk followed with a sac fly and Bush connected on a two-run homer to extend the Storm lead to 12-7.
 
Payton scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning, but the Bisons answered with a run in the bottom half to make the score 13-8 heading to the ninth inning.
 
Payton drove in a run in the top of the ninth on a bunt single, followed by an Aguirre RBI single to right and a Rose sac fly to tack on three runs total and make the final score 16-8.
 
Southeastern outhit the Bisons in the nightcap, with Villa, Bush, and Ford each picking up two hits while Kirk, Olson, Austin Parker, Hayden Carpenter, and Showalter each logged one.
 
Olson, Carpenter, and Ford each drove in a run.
 
Jacob Fuller got the start and took the loss after allowing four runs on four hits over 1.1 innings.
 
Cody Pfeffer tossed the next 3.2 innings and scattered three hits without allowing a run.
 
Brock Zimmer finished the contest with a hitless inning.
 
Harding jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the finale with a run in the first and three more in the second.
 
The Storm got a run back in the top of the third on an RBI groundout by Olson that plated Kirk, cutting the score to 4-1.
 
The score remained there until the top of the seventh as SE put the first two runners on and moved them to third with no outs.
 
Carpenter then singled home Bush and Ford singled home Olson to close the gap to 4-3.
 
That was where the rally ended though as the final three batters were retired in order.