CLARKSVILLE,Ark. – The Concordia Texas baseball team got a quality start from
Matthew Williams in game one and followed it up with a balanced offensive attack in game two to pick up a doubleheader sweep over Ozarks Friday at Lonnie R. Qualls Baseball field.
The Tornados opened American Southwest Conference play at 2-0 for the first time since the 2015 season and move to 10-1 on the season.
In game one, Williams was absolutely dominant on the hill, tossing a 7.0 inning, complete game shutout, allowing just three hits while fanning seven. Williams, a junior out of Austin, Texas, moved to 3-0 on the year and lowered his season ERA to 2.66.
The Tornados got the scoring started early in the top half of the first. After
Marcus Thach reached on an error and moved to second, he was subsequently brought home on an RBI single up the middle from
Carson Cox.
The score remained 1-0 until the fourth when
Owen Hill ripped a two-out RBI single to center field to bring home Cox.
Thach added another two-out run for CTX in the fifth with an RBI single to score
Ryan Clouse.
In the top half of the seventh,
Reed Carlton added an insurance run when he lifted an RBI single into right field as
Casen Novak came in to score.
In total, the Tornados produced a total of five hits in game one, four of which resulted in an RBI single.
Much like in game one, CTX struck first in the top half of the first thanks to two RBI groundouts from Cox and
Bret Leiferman.
Carlton and Novak produced a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings thanks to a groundout and an RBI single, respectively, to put the Tornados on top 4-0.
Ozarks answered with their first runs of the doubleheader with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Caleb Nicholson and
Brandon Breaux closed the door, however, stranding the bases loaded to preserve the 4-3 lead.
The two teams traded a pair of runs in the fifth, highlighted by a fielder's choice RBI from Carlton.
The Tornados added a couple of insurance runs in the seventh thanks to back-to-back RBIs from Carlton and Hill.
After Ozarks cut the game to 7-5 with a run in the eighth, CTX responded immediately with small ball the top of the ninth when Clouse brought home Hill on a squeeze bunt.
Calvin Bush (2-0) closed the door in the ninth, and picked up the win on the mound after throwing 5.0 innings, allowing just two runs on five hits and striking out six.
Next up, the Tornados will go for the sweep as they take on Ozarks in the series finale at 12:00 p.m.
