(March 2, 2024) Mena, Arkansas - The Bucks won an extra inning ballgame on Thursday in Hot Springs in 10 innings over National Park and were wanting to keep momentum going on Saturday at Union Bank Field. The men were looking for their first series win of the season over the Nighthawks. Last season, the Bucks took all four games to finish the year against NPC.
Game One
Wanting to build off the win on Thursday, the men jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after an inning of play. After back-to-back 1 out singles and a walk, the Bucks scored on a pass ball and a Ian Smith (Bismarck, AR) ground out to the right side to take the early lead. The Nighthawks came back and tied the game in the top of the third inning off starting pitcher Clint Lafferty (Seguin, TX).
Both teams plated a run in the fourth inning. The Bucks run came when Aydan Easter (Hot Springs, AR) reached on an error that scored Smith. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Bucks wanted to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning to give themselves a chance to take the win in the seventh. The Bucks did get their run on a hard single by Trevor Flake (North Little Rock, AR), but the Nighthawks tied the game in the top of the seventh inning to force extra innings.
Unfortunately, the Bucks couldn't pull out back-to-back extra inning wins. The Nighthawks scored in the top of the eighth, and the men were unable to anwer to fall 5-4 in game one of the day.
Shuto Okumura (Takatsuki, Japan) got the loss in relief. Okumura (0-2) pitched 0.1 innings, giving up 1 run on 1 hit and walking a pair.
Game Two
In the rubber match, it would seem that National Park had all of the momentum. The Nighthawks led off with a 3-run home run in the top of the first inning off starting pitcher Austin Rainey (Conway, AR). After that, the sophomore left hander settled in and went to work on the mound. Throwing 2 scoreless innings in the second and third and wanting some run support from his offense.
The Bucks scratched across a run in the bottom of the third inning on a Cody Hayes (Corsicana, TX) RBI single to centerfield to score Flake. Flake reached on an error to lead off the inning. The Nighthawks answered back with another run to take back their 3-run lead in the top of the fourth, but the Bucks offense answered again with a sac fly by Trevor Flake. The Bucks missed an opportunity with the bases loaded in the inning to even the game.
The opportunity came again the bottom of the fifth inning, and the Bucks took advantage, plating 6 runs in the bottom half. After a 1 out hit-by-pitch, walk, and hit-by-pitch, Trace Watkins (Sheridan, AR) got credit for the RBI on another hit-by-pitch to cut the lead to just one run. Next at-bat, Ian Smith hit the 0-2 pitch to right centerfield to pick up a pair of RBIs on a double. Then, Caleb Bryant (North Little Rock, AR) singles on a bunt up the first base line to plate another run. After stealing second and third, Bryant found his way home on an error for the sixth run of the inning.
With the 4-run lead, both teams went scoreless, and Rainey came out for the seventh inning. The Nighthawks led off with a double and scored on a 1-out error by the Bucks that ended Rainey's day on the mound. Trapper Golden (Hughes Springs, TX) came on in relief and struck out the only 2 hitters he faced to seal the series win for the Bucks, and Golden picked up the save in the outing.
Austin Rainey (2-1) picked up his second win of the season on the mound, throwing 6.1 innings. The sophomore left hander gave up 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits. Rainey struck out 5 and only walked 1 in the game.
With the series win, the Bucks now turn their attention to a single game with North Arkansas on Tuesday at Union Bank Field. Then, the men will take on new program ASU Mid-South in a 3-game region series on Thursday and Saturday. Thursday's single game will be played at Union Bank Field. Saturday will be in West Memphis.
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