Weevils Drop Both Ends Of Home-Opening Double-Header to Northwest Missouri State
February 24, 2008

MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello baseball team is still looking for its first win of the season after dropping a pair of games to Northwest Missouri State Saturday by final scores of 15-4 in the first game and 5-2 in the nightcap.

In the second game, the teams swapped a run in each half of the third inning. UAM’s Ben Miller (El Dorado, Ark.) grounded out to short-stop that scored Lance Labeff (West Monroe, La.), who led off the inning with a double to left center.

The Bearcats used a heavy three-run homerun from Kreed Kurtz off UAM starting pitcher Josh Hathcox (Bryan, Texas) to gain a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning.

UAM answered in the bottom of the inning when Hathcox scored from a throwing error by the Bearcat catcher.

Down 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Weevils weren’t able to produce, only getting a double from Matt Gardner (West Monroe, La.). Gardner was left stranded when Josh Wisnoski (Navasota, Texas) struck out to end the game.

Hathcox pitched the full seven innings, allowing five runs (all earned) off seven hits, while only walking one of the 29 Bearcat batters he faced.

In the first game of the double-header, the Weevils were only outscored by a large margin. The Bearcats only out-hit the Weevils 16-13.

Weevil starter David Nix (Camden, Ark.) allowed five runs in the top of the first inning and one run in the top of the third inning, good enough for the loss, moving him to 0-4 overall this season.

Wisnoski was the game’s best hitter, going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with one RBI. Craig Caldwell (West Monroe, La.) was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate, while teammates Hathcox and Chris Whatley (Sachse, Texas) both had two hits as well.

The Weevils scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning off four consecutive base hits. Hathcox singled up the middle to score Wisnoski, who led off the inning with a single to center field. Whatley followed with an RBI single that scored Ben Turner (Greenville, Miss.), who doubled to deep center field earlier in the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, UAM struck again with an RBI single from Caldwell that scored Whatley.

The Bearcats used a six run top of the seventh inning to gain a comfortable 15-3 advantage. UAM answered with only one run in the bottom a half – an RBI single from Wisnoski that scored Gardner, who doubled down the left field line.

The two losses drop the Weevil’s overall season record to 0-10, while the team looks for its first win tomorrow, for the final game of the three game series against the Bearcats. The single, nine-inning contest starts at 1 p.m. at Weevil Field.