FORT SMITH, Ark. — No. 9 Rogers State baseball (31-5, 19-3 MIAA) secured a commanding 17-3 (8) run-rule victory over Arkansas-Fort Smith (4-30, 3-22 MIAA) to claim the season series on Tuesday at Crowder Field. RSU improves to 8-0 in conference series this season with the dub.
After conceding the opening run of the game to the Lions in the second inning, the Hillcats flipped a switch in the third inning.
Luis Fuentes and
Kade Goeke singled, with Fuentes advancing to third on a wild pitch.
Andres Contreras then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Fuentes. Goeke scored on a play where
Sammy Harris was caught stealing, giving RSU a 2-1 lead.
The fourth inning added to the lead when
Nathan Gutierrez doubled and scored on a throwing error following an infield fly, making it 3-1.
In the fifth,
Andrew Ramirez was hit by a pitch and scored on
Jake Mitchell's RBI single, which also advanced Harris to third. Harris then scored on Gutierrez's sacrifice fly, extending the lead to 5-2.
The Hillcats broke the game open in the sixth inning.
Blake Conrad walked and scored on Ramirez's single. Harris then doubled to right center, clearing the bases with three RBIs, pushing the lead to 9-2.
In the seventh, Gutierrez (7) hit a solo homer.
Jordan Tucker, after drawing a walk, scored on Conrad's double. Ramirez added another RBI single, making it 12-3.
The eighth inning saw Tucker (1) hit his first home run as a Hillcat with a three-run home run bomb to left field. Conrad (2) followed with a solo homer, and Harris doubled to score Ramirez, capping the inning at 17-3, which would hold until the final out.
Damon Anderson Wolf (8-0) delivered a strong performance for the Hillcats in his seventh start of the season, pitching 6.0 innings with only one earned run allowed and striking out four batters. He demonstrated control, walking none and maintaining a WHIP of 0.50 while throwing 67 pitches, 48 of which were strikes.
Dylan Weddle contributed an inning of relief, allowing one run on one hit with two walks and striking out one.
Christian Estep pitched the final inning, striking out three while allowing one hit and issuing one walk, maintaining no earned runs.
Gutierrez added three hits, including a home run and a double to finish a triple shy of the cycle, while also scoring three runs and driving in two more. Harris recorded a double in all three of his at-bats and drove in four runs. Tucker and Conrad hit a home run as well, accumulating three RBIs and scoring twice.
Rogers State will prepare for a crucial home series against No. 29 Northwest Missouri State from Thursday to Saturday in a matchup between the top two teams in the MIAA.
