Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
SEARCY – The Harding baseball team received two outstanding efforts from its starting pitchers and extended its winning streak to seven games with a pair of victories over Waldorf College on Sunday at Jerry Moore Field. The Bisons won the opener 3-2 and the second game 2-0.
Sophomore Hayden Shirley had his best start of the season on the mound for Harding in game one. He allowed only three hits and two earned runs and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings.
Harding (9-10) stranded 12 runners through the first seven innings, but plated the runner that counted in the first extra inning. In the eighth, Heath Boyd was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on an infield groundout. Freshman Paul Anzalone then laced the game-winning hit to left field to score Boyd.
Anzalone was 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI. It was the first four-hit game by a Harding player this season.
After Shirley exited in the sixth, sophomore Jacob Giles (1-1) came on and pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to collect his first win of the season. He allowed only three hits and struck out one.
The two teams combined for only four hits in game two. Harding had just two, both off the bat of junior Clay West.
In the fourth inning, Charles Bradley walked with two outs and stole second. West smacked his second double of the season to score Bradley and put the Bisons up 1-0.
That was all sophomore pitcher Kyle Cline (2-2) needed to earn the victory. He allowed only two hits and struck out five in his first career shutout. Cline needed only 97 pitches for the complete game.
Waldorf (0-4) committed three errors in the sixth inning, allowing Harding to score its second run.
The victory was only Harding's third since 1997 when it had two hits or fewer. In 2003, the Bisons defeated Delta State 5-4 with only two hits, and in 1998, Harding defeated Williams Baptist 2-0 on two hits.
Harding's seven-game winning streak is its second longest under Dr. Patrick McGaha. The Bisons had an eight-game streak in 2008. The longest winning streak in Harding's NCAA era (since 1997) was a nine-game winning streak in 2003.
Harding and Waldorf conclude their five-game series Monday with a single, nine-inning game beginning at noon.
