(April 14, 2022) Mena, Arkansas – Coming off winning three of four games this past weekend against then #9 Western Oklahoma State, the Bucks reentered the NJCAA DII Baseball Top 20 Poll at #20 this past Monday ahead of this weekend's region series against National Park College. The Bucks come into the series atop of the Region II standings with a 14-2 region record, while the Nighthawks are fourth at 10-10.

GAME ONE

The first game of the series was a little bit of a pitcher's dual with both teams scoring runs in the bottom of the third and top of the sixth innings. The Bucks runs came on two swings of the bat by Daniel Taylor (Rogers, AR) and Chase Webb (El Dorado, AR). In the bottom of the third. The pair of 2-run homers gave the Bucks a 4-0 lead until the top of the sixth inning. The Nighthawks plated a pair of runs to make it 4-2, which would be the final score.

Starting pitcher Drake Fontenot (Bossier City, LA) (4-2) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits. The right hander struck out 6 and walked 1 to pick up his fourth win of the season. Closer Daegan Covington (Taylor, AR) came on to pitch the seventh inning and worked a 1, 2, 3 inning, including a strikeout to pick up his fourth save of the season and sealed the win for the Bucks.

GAME TWO

The second game of the doubleheader was a pitcher's duel for the first four innings. Grant Shankle (Van Buren, AR) got the start on the bump for the Bucks and worked four scoreless innings until the Nighthawks plated a run in the top of the fifth inning to make it 1-0.

The Bucks offense produced in the bottom of the fifth on a bases loaded walk by Mason Reynolds (Fort Worth, TX) to tie the game with 1 out. Next at-bat, Chase Webb hit a sacrifice fly to score another run. With 2 outs, Luke Rice (Scott, AR) hit a RBI single to right field to cap the 3-run bottom half to give the Bucks a 3-1 lead after five.

After the fifth, both teams put zeros on the scoreboard until the bottom of the eighth inning, Wesley Featherston (Hope, AR) reached on an error. Then, he advanced to third on another error to setup Casey Shipley's (Prairie Grove, AR) RBI single to centerfield to extend the Bucks lead to 4-1 heading into the final inning.

With Shankle's day being done after 8.0 innings of work, the Nighthawks added 3 runs off reliever Cooper Perry (Avinger, TX) in the save situation. Cade Shrum (Greenwood, AR) came on to close out the top half, recording the third out with the game tied at 4-4.

In the bottom of the nineth, Chase Webb doubled with 1 out to put a runner in scoring position. After back-to-back intentional walks, Webb would score on a passed ball to give the Bucks a walk-off 5-4 win.

In the no decision, Grant Shankle pitched 8.0 innings, giving up a run on 7 hits. He would strikeout 9 and walk 2 in the outing. In 0.1 innings of work, Cade Shrum (4-2) picked up the win on the mound.

The Bucks and Nighthawks will conclude the series tomorrow afternoon at Majestic Park in Hot Springs. First pitch is schedule for 1 pm.

#GOBUCKS