BASEBALL Rollercoaster Season For Bison Hardballers The 1982 spring campaign for the Harding baseball squad could be summed up in one word: improvement . One not closely associated with the team would hesitate to agree when looking at the 13-15 season mark and 7-7 conference record compared to a season mark of 16-22 and a conference mark of 4-10. The 1982 season consisted of 28 games, 13 double-headers and two single games. The 8isons were 9-7 at home while on the road they slumped to 4-8. "The boys really had a great season, despite our record," head coach Dick Johnson said. " The conference was very strong this year and we definitely competed well. We are really proud of the guys. " Harding opened their season on the road at Louisiana College. They split the doubleheader loosing in the opener, 1-0, and came back in the night cap to gain revenge, 2-1. As the score shows both games were "anyone's ball game." With an even record, the 8isons returned home to face the University of Northern Alabama. The 81sons were not as lucky as they had been with Loui siana College in the sense that they lost both games, but once again the scores were close, 3-4 and 3-5. The next opponent the 8isons faced at home was AIC foe, Arkansas Tech. The Bisons came out hot and supported pitcher Mike Galloway in a 2-0 decision. In the second game of the double-header, Tech came back to gain revenge in handing a 1-3 defeat to Harding. The Harding 8i sons once again took to the 144/ Baseball road, this time journeying to Memphis to take on Southwestern University. The Bisons got fired up and swept both games, 4-3 and 13·6. Stan Valentine and Frank Turner notched their first wins of the season against Southwestern. Harding returned home still steaming and it was just barely enough to defeat Henderson State, 8-7, in the first of a double-header. I n the second game the Reddies were the ones who got hot and beat the Bisons, 6-9. Again the Bisons took to the road hoping to repeat their "road magic" at Christian Brothers. Their hopes were dashed when they were defeated twice, 6-9 and 2-8. Valentine and Turner, who were previously undefeated, took the losses. Harding revenged their double-header loss to Christian Brothers, but at Rust College's expense, 5-2 and 11-6. The winning pitchers for Harding were Jimmy Sites, his first, and Galloway. his third. The conclusion of the double-header with Rust College marked the midway point in the 1982 season. The Bisons were 7-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference. The rest of the season Harding would see ten games against AIC opponents and four tough non-conference games. The Bisons opened the final half of the season on the road at Arkadelphia against Ouachita Baptist University. Harding split with Ouachita winning 10-6 behind the great pitching of Galloway and losing 0-4. In the second game the Bisons could not seem to _ 5h4L1Jn Oaggeu put their..hitting or pitching together. The Bisons returned home for three games and to the surprise of both University of Arkansas-Monticello and Arkansas State University the Bisons won all three. The first two games were against UAM; the Bisons won 4-3 and 11-1 behind the pitching of Galloway and Steve Marrs. The game against Arkansas State was a " nail biter. " It went nine innings before the Bisons won it, 4-1 . Harding went on the road to Jonesboro to face Arkansas State University and what a difference the home field made. The Indians came to play and play they did. They outscored the Bisons 2-9 in the first game, although the second game was a "nip and tuc" game, ending in a Bison defeat. The Bisons returned home to face the University of Arkansas at little Rock. For the second time in four games the game was decided in the ninth inning, but Harding came out on the short end this time, 4-5 . The next two games were at home also, but against Southern Arkansas University. The Bisons felt fairly confident of victory in the first game since they had their ace pitcher, Galloway, on the mound, but things didn' t turn out the way all had hoped. Harding dropped a hard fought game, 4-5. The Bisons
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