The University of Arkansas at Monticello needed two games and a hot bat by Chaz Poppy on Saturday to win its first Great American Conference baseball tournament championship since 2017.
Top-seeded UAM rebounded from a 9-3 loss to Arkansas Tech University to finish off the Wonder Boys in the winner-take-all final, 8-5, behind two Poppy home runs at North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park.
The Boll Weevils (32-22), who last played in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 2019, earned an automatic berth with their third GAC tournament title (others in 2016 and 2017) and will learn their regional tournament fate at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
UAM started hot in the second game with Poppy’s 3-run homer in the first inning. Tech (38-18) answered with 3 in the second, scoring 2 on a Cole Dawson single and 1 on a Markos Cabranes single.
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Poppy delivered again with a 2-run shot in the third inning, and the Weevils added a run on a bases-loaded walk in the fifth. A single by Roc Hawthorne and fielding error allowed DeShaun Cordova to add some insurance in the eighth, as did Kirk Woolf on a 1-run double.
Tech did not go away quietly. Sawyer Duddleston closed the deficit to 8-5 with a 2-run double with 1 out in the ninth.
Dylan Vail (5-1) earned the win and Nelson Mercado threw just two-thirds of an inning for his eighth save of the season.
In the first game, Tech scored 6 runs in the fourth inning to build an insurmountable lead.
The Wonder Boys got to UAM starter Maxim Mrakovcic (3-7) with two outs in the fourth inning. A single and hit batsman loaded the bases before Dawson doubled down the left-field line to score 3 runs and break open a 1-1 tie. Grant Jones’ single added another run, Cabranes stole home as Grant Jones swiped second, and Logan Schwenke hit a 1-run triple to left center.
Mrakovcic allowed 7 earned runs on seven hits in 3 ⅔ innings before giving way to Jacob McDaniel, who faced only four batters in the fifth but gave up a two-out, 2-run single to Nick Jones in the sixth. UAM scored 2 runs in the sixth on Kirk Woolf’s double and Cade Cancilla’s single.
Jones went 2 for 5, including a first-inning RBI single. Christian Olea and Dawson each had 2 hits as well for the Wonder Boys.
Mason Willis (4-1) held the Weevils to 3 earned runs on eight hits in a complete-game victory. He struck out two.
McDaniel surrendered 2 earned runs on two hits, and Ethan Gardner held Tech to just one hit in two innings.
Parker Dorrance grounded out to shortstop in the UAM second to give the Boll Weevils their first run. Chase Cripps and Woolf each had two hits for the Weevils.