SEARCY, Ark. – St. Edward's Baseball clinched its opening series of 2016 against Harding in convincing fashion on Sunday, with an 11-0 win over the Bisons.
 
Despite extremely windly conditions boding poorly for both offenses, the Hilltoppers used small ball, and a big ninth inning to close out the weekend on a high note. They improve to 2-1 on the season while Harding falls to 1-2. St. Edward's improved its all-time series advantage over Harding to 4-2.
 
J.D. ARROWOOD had a quality offensive outing, going 2-for-4 with a double, one run scored, and two RBI. ROMEO CORTINA drove in a pair of runs with two hits in four at-bats while HUNTER COURSON, GABLE WHITACRE, and DYLAN WATTS all scored twice, and tallied multiple hits as well. NICK LERICK came up big at the plate with a pinch-hit, two-run home run, the first of his career.
 
On the mound, CAMERON STANTON gave the Hilltoppers a quality start with 6.1 innings of shutout baseball. He earned the win with five strikeouts while giving up just four hits and one walk. ERIC HESTER, CAM HATCH, and STUART SPRINGER combined for 2.2 innings of hitless, scoreless relief.
 
Sunday's 11-0 shutout marks the most runs St. Edward's has scored in a single game of a season-opening series since 2013. The Hilltoppers scored 13 against Arkansas Fort Smith. It is also the first time in five years that the team has recorded two shutouts on opening weekend.
 
"We did a great job of manufacturing runs early with small ball. This was a tough offensive day until the wind died down in the last couple of innings," said head coach Rob Penders. "Late in the game we were able to drive some balls to the outfield gaps, and also hit one home run. We have a strong offensive team in a lot of facets, and we had to display all of those today. When your pitching tosses two shutouts on the weekend, your offense gets a boost because there isn't as much pressure on them. Cam (Stanton) gave us a great start, and Eric (Hester), CAM HATCH and (Stuart) Springer) were awesome in relief."
 
Despite a temperature nearing the 70s, cloudy windy conditions meant a slow start for both teams at the plate, but that would not keep St. Edward's off the board.
 
After going down in order the first two innings, the Hilltoppers came alive in the top of the third. The inning started off with WESLEY HARRIS, and Watts both getting hit by the pitcher. Then, Mike Milner executed a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second, and third. NATE TURNER grounded out, but it would still bring home Harris. A single from Courson made the game 2-0 with no extra-base hits to be found.
 
The offense fell into another lull until the top of the sixth, when Courson reached base on a throwing error by the shortstop with no outs. GABLE WHITACRE forced an error on the very next at-bat to put runners at first and second. Another sacrifice bunt, this time from JOSEPH OLSON, put both Hilltoppers in scoring position. J.D. ARROWOOD worked a walk to load the bases, and ROMEO CORTINA sacrificed himself with a fly ball to centerfield, scoring Courson. Aggressive base running, and an outstanding throw from center field ended the inning.
 
A run of insurance in the eighth took away the save opportunity for the Hilltopper bullpen, and in the ninth St. Edward's used, not one, but seven nails to seal the Bisons coffin. A total of seven runs on seven hits was capped off by Lerick's two-run shot to left field.
 
Stanton's performance on the mound, and solid defense in the field only allowed three Harding base runners to move into scoring position. The Hilltopper pitching staff now holds an earned-run average of 1.50 with a WHIP of 0.83.
 
Coach Penders and his squad travel to Canyon, Texas next weekend for a tournament hosted by West Texas A&M. The Hilltoppers face Southwestern Oklahoma State on Friday at 4 p.m., West Texas A&M on Saturday at the same time, and Colorado Mines on Sunday at 12 p.m. Live stats will be available for all three games with live video of the Saturday game through links at GoHilltoppers.com.