ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State, winner of two-straight GAC series, will look to make it three-in-a-row this weekend when it travels to Bethany, Oklahoma to face Southern Nazarene in a three-game set. The teams will get underway in the series opener on Friday with first pitch set for 2 p.m.
REDDIES REPORT
- After starting the season 0-3 in conference play, the Reddies have won four of their last six GAC contests to claim back-to-back series victories over Arkansas Tech and Oklahoma Baptist. Henderson picked up three wins over ranked opponents in a span of five days last week when it defeated No. 9 Delta State 8-6 and then beat No. 16 OKBU twice, 5-2 and 15-5.
- Freshman outfielder Alec Lewis became the first Reddies this season, and just the second in the last two years, to earn GAC Player of the Week accolades. The Arkadelphia native hit .417 last week with five hits, six RBIs and the first two home runs of his career to help HSU go 3-1 in four games. Lewis currently leads Henderson with a team-best .370 batting average.
- First baseman Greyson Stevens is riding an eight-game hitting streak for the Reddies and has recorded a hit in 15 of their 18 games this season. During the streak, Stevens has put together four multi-hit games and racked up eight RBIs. The sophomore from Pottsville, Arkansas is tied for third in the GAC with eight doubles this year.
- Henderson is batting .247 as a team which ranks 11th in the GAC but the Reddies have made up for the lower batting average by drawing a conference-high 93 walks in 18 games this season. Pitching-wise, HSU carries an ERA of 5.46 which ranks seventh in the league. Opponents are batting .268 against the Reddies this year.
- The Reddies will be looking for their first true road wins of the season this weekend in Bethany, Oklahoma. All seven of HSU's wins this year have come at Clyde Berry Field and Henderson is a combined 0-7 in road and neutral site games.
- HSU has played very clean baseball through 18 games this season and is third in the GAC in team fielding percentage (.970). The Reddies have committed just 19 errors on the year and taken advantage of 28 by their opponents.
- Henderson has had a great deal of success against SNU in recent years. HSU has won the last six meetings and 12 of the last 13 overall. The Reddies are 18-3 against the Crimson Storm since 2013.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN NAZARENE
- SNU comes into the weekend 6-13 overall and 1-8 in GAC play. The Crimson Storm got their first conference win of the season last Saturday with a 7-1 win over Ouachita Baptist.
- The Crimson Storm are at the bottom of the league in team ERA with a mark of 9.08 for the year. Southern Nazarene's top arm is Triston Graves, who has a 4.56 ERA and 2-3 record in 25.2 innings of work. Fellow starter Brett Rexroad had thrown more innings than any SNU pitcher (27.2) and carries a 7.81 ERA.
- South Nazarene has been solid with the bats and is hitting .284 collectively through 19 games. SNU's top hitter is Clay Lockett, who is batting .391 and has an OPS of 1.045. Lockett has 25 hits, six doubles and is 7-for-7 on stolen base attempts this season to lead the Crimson Storm.
