Conway, Ark.- The Warriors hosted a three-game Southern Athletic Association series featuring the Rhodes College Lynx beginning with a night game on Friday.
Game 1: Ethan Thomas took the hill for the Warriors in game 1, making his second start of the 2023 season. Thomas threw two innings, allowing three earned runs on three hits and a walk. He was relieved by Cade McWilliams in the third who threw two and one-third innings, surrendering five runs (four earned) on five hits. McWilliams was followed up by Nathan Silva who didn't allow a run in one full inning of work. Jacob Wagner and Teddy Olander combined for the next two innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits. Jackson Corrigan tossed the last inning and two-thirds, allowing one run. Starter Ethan Thomas was tagged for the loss. His record is currently 0-2.
In the batter's box, the Warriors didn't have any luck stringing together hits, or plating runners in scoring position. Of the Warriors' nine hits, six came from Adam Bland, Owen Shaw, and Drake Job who accounted for two each. Job picked up three RBIs, and Bland picked up another double to add to his tally. The Warriors put barrels on the baseball, however, few hits got down due to some savvy Rhodes defensive positioning. Once the game got out of hand, the Warriors bats largely fell silent and were too little, too late when they reawakened in the eighth inning. Rhodes took Game 1 by a score of 12-4.
Game 2: Freshman right-hander Trent Jordan made his first career start, going an inning and two-thirds, allowing three earned runs on three hits and two walks. Bobby Fowler got the call to the bullpen and was tagged for three earned runs on one hit. Gunner Hopkins followed Fowler up and gave up four runs on three hits. Chance Reed tossed an inning, allowing three runs on two hits. Miles Schluterman threw the next four innings, giving the Lynx four earned runs on six hits. Nathan Silva threw a shutout frame in the ninth. The Warriors struggled to limit free passes to a talented Rhodes squad who capitalized on these mistakes, tagging the Warriors for seventeen earned runs.
The Warriors fared better at the plate than they had during Game 1, however, they could not keep up with the Rhodes offense. They recorded nine runs on eleven hits and had a better time plating runners than they did in game 1. The bats of Adam Bland, Owen Shaw, and Zach Marriott were hot. Bland and Shaw were good for two hits and a double each with Bland notching two RBIs and Shaw driving in one. Captain Canada, Zach Marriott, sent two baseballs into traffic on I-40 in back-to-back at-bats. Marriott was three-for-four on the day. Hogan Ralston picked up the first of three doubles on the day in Game 2. Despite some success at the plate, the Warriors could not answer Rhodes seventeen runs and lost by a score of 17-9.
Game 3: David Blackburn toed the rubber for the Warriors in Game 3. in three and one-third innings of work, the starter allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits and one walk. John Henry Fowler came on in relief of Blackburn, but was hit hard by the Lynx, giving up five earned runs on five hits and one walk in two-thirds of an inning pitched. Freshman Aiden Leggett got the nod and delivered two and two-thirds innings of shutout ball. Leggett was relieved by nonother than Jack Hodgins who recorded the last out of the game. Leggett earned the win in relief.
Game 3 was a high-scoring affair for both teams, but the Warriors managed to scratch and claw more runs across than the Lynx. They recorded twelve runs on eight hits. Owen Shaw and Adam Bland had their third multi-hit game of the series, accounting for a combined six RBIs. Hogan Ralston went two-for-two with a pair of doubles while scoring three times. The go-ahead run came in the bottom of the sixth inning with Drake Job scoring on a wild pitch, making the score 12-11 in favor of the Warriors. The Warriors record stands at 20-11 (8-7 SAA). They will be back in action on Tuesday in Clarksville where they will play Ozarks for the final time this season.
