Facing preseason conference favorite Arkansas Tech over the weekend, the Southeastern baseball solidified itself as a league contender by winning two of three games and taking the season series over the Wonder Boys.
Coach Alan Trayler’s squad belted four homers in a 5-1 series opening victory and bounced back from a 4-1 loss in game two to claim the finale in a 3-2 thriller.
Now 10-5 in league play, the Savage Storm sit in third place and face a key series this weekend on the road at Harding.
In the opener, the long ball was the story as each team tallied seven hits. Four of Southeastern’s left the yard while just one for Arkansas Tech.
Austin Parker belted a two-run homer to put the Savage Storm on the board in the fourth inning, Isaac Villa added a solo shot in the fifth, Hayden Carpenter a solo in the sixth and J.J. Bush tacked on the final solo blast in the seventh. Villa finished with two hits.
That was enough for Dylan Hill to hold the Wonder Boys at bay on the mound as he scattered seven hits, struck out two and walked two over seven innings. Ace reliever Cody Pfeffer contributed two frames of perfect relief to wrap it up.
Southeastern was outhit 5-4 in Saturday’s first game and the lone Savage Storm run came on Villa’s solo home run in the ninth.
Daniel Collins and Brock Zimmer combined on the mound to yield just five hits, struck out nine and walked three but Collins was tagged with the pitching loss. Villa, Bush, Carter Olson and Seve Aguirre had one hit apiece for the hosts.
The Savage Storm scored three times in the opening inning of the last contest as Villa walked, Olson singled and Austin Parker smacked a three-run homer to right field for what proved to be all the runs Southeastern would need.
Tech answered with two tallies in the second frame before relievers Carson Abbott and Pfeffer came on to slam the door with a combined six stanzas of one-hit scoreless relief. They struck out four and walked two.
In addition to Olson and Parker’s hits, the Savage Storm got singles from Ryan Kirk and Jacob Ambriz.
