Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SEARCY, Ark.—The Christian Brothers University Bucs held on for a 9-8 extra-inning win in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Harding before blowing a seventh-inning lead and dropping the second game 3-2 despite not allowing any earned runs.

In the opener, the Bucs (10-24) took an early lead in the top of the second inning.  After two walks, an Alan Wright (Olive Branch, Miss./DeSoto Central HS) single loaded the bases for Will Wilson (Cordova, Tenn./First Assembly Christian School), who blasted a grand slam to left, his second grand slam of the season and his third homer overall.  After Harding (22-16) answered with a run in the bottom of the second, the Bucs scored another in the third on back-to-back doubles by Josh Hopkins (Olive Branch, Miss./Southern Baptist Educational Center) and Braden Keathley (Henderson, Nev./Silverado HS).  After the Bisons scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the third, the Bucs tacked on three more in the fourth inning to take an 8-3 lead.  A one-out Tyler Dunn (Bartlett, Tenn./Tipton-Rosemark Academy) single started the rally.  After a walk to Cody Warren (Orlando, Fla./Orangewood Christian HS), Jimmy Franklin (Knoxville, Tenn./Powell HS) drove Dunn in with an infield single, and Hopkins reached on an error to drive Warren home.  Franklin scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch on a dropped third strike.

A hit batter and a double brought in another run for the Bisons in the fifth, but the Bucs held a four-run lead into the seventh, when the Bisons exploded for four runs on two singles, a walk, a hit batter, and a triple, all before the first out of the inning.  The Bucs escaped further damage in the inning, sending the game to extra innings, when three straight walks set the stage for an RBI infield single by Mac Cooley (Bartlett, Tenn./Horn Lake HS) that proved to be the game-winner.  Drew Tatum (Southaven, Miss./Southaven HS) tossed a scoreless eighth for his first save.

Keathley went 2-for-4 in the game, while Cooley went 2-for-3.  Hopkins scored twice, and Wilson drove in four runs.  Cooley (1-3) picked up his first college win after tossing two innings of relief.

The Bucs again lead nearly the whole game in the nightcap, taking a lead in the top of the second when Hunter Parham (Southaven, Miss./Southaven HS) singled and scored on a Cooley double to left-center.  The Bisons tied it in the bottom of the third with an unearned run on a single, a wild pitch, and two passed balls.

The Bucs regained the lead in the sixth, when Keathley singled and came home on a Wright sacrifice fly.  The 2-1 lead remained until the bottom of the seventh.  With one out, an error put the tying run on base.  After a walk, two errors on one play brought the tying run in, and Harding third baseman Billy Ninemire hit an RBI single to end the game.

Hopkins and Keathley collected two hits each for the Bucs in the game.  Jake Garbuzinski (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) went four innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits and two walks, and Jake Porter (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Mount Juliet HS) held Harding hitless in an inning and two-thirds of relief.

The Bucs return to action this weekend when they visit North Alabama for a GSC series, with Saturday's doubleheader set for a 2 p.m. start.  Their next home game is Thursday, April 19, at 3 p.m. against Rhodes.