ADA, Okla. – The East Central University baseball team hosted the University of Arkansas-Monticello this past weekend for their second-to-last Great American Conference series of the season. Despite riding a wave of momentum from the last three weeks, the Tigers couldn't find their rhythm against a red-hot UAM squad, dropping all three games of the series.
ECU will now turn its attention to its final non-conference matchup of the season on Tuesday, April 22, when the Tigers travel to face Southwestern Oklahoma State University. They'll then return home for their final series at Ken Turner Field this season, taking on Southeastern Oklahoma State University in a pivotal GAC showdown.
Against UAM, the Tigers struggled to generate consistent offense, while the Boll Weevils came out swinging and never let up.
The series opened with a tough 11-0 loss in game one. ECU found more offense in Saturday's doubleheader, but couldn't keep pace with UAM's explosiveness, falling 15-3 in game two and 11-1 in the series finale.
Offensively,
Tyler Akers and
Weldon Sherrell led the Tigers with four hits each across the weekend.
Bennie Qualls and
Trace Necessary each drove in a run in game two, while
Zac Carroll tallied ECU's lone RBI in game three.
On the mound,
Luke Livian,
Cal Birchfield, and
Nate Windle each got starts, with relief appearances coming from
Joel Hogan,
Ryan Dembroski,
Andrew Black,
Jeremy Slate, and
Beau Driggers.
