BETHANY, Okla. — Henderson State tagged Southern Nazarene for 30 runs on 30 hits across 14 innings of play on Saturday and clinched the series with the Crimson Storm by taking both halves of the doubleheader at Feland Field.
The Reddies (4-1, 2-0) launched six home runs in the two games and racked up 14 extra-base hits on their way to a 2-0 start in the GAC.
HSU will go for the sweep of Southern Nazarene tomorrow at 1 p.m.
GAME 1: Henderson State 14, Southern Nazarene 1
The Reddies struck early and often in the series opener, and used a seven-run third inning to run away from SNU for a 14-1 win in seven innings.
Kaden Argenbright had three hits to lead HSU at the plate, while Joe Myers, Cade Tucker, Alec Lewis, Bryson Haskins and Logan Cowart all had two. Tucker had a team-high four RBIs and to headline a group of six different players who had at least one run driven in.
Austin Cross earned his first win of the season by pitching five innings and allowing no runs on just five hits. Cross struck out six batters and walked just one on the afternoon.
Henderson put two runs on the board in the first inning, and then used a home run from Haskins and a double from Argenbright in the second to plate three more.
With a 5-0 lead, the Reddies unloaded in the third frame. HSU scored seven runs on seven hits in the inning — the largest of which was a three-run bomb from Tucker with two outs — to seize a commanding 12-0 advantage.
A two-run double from Myers extended the lead to 14-0 in the fourth and SNU managed just two hits in the last three innings as the Reddies closed it out early.
The Reddies struck out just seven times in 34 total at-bats and chased Crimson Storm starter Patrick Hine after just two innings where he allowed nine runs on eight hits.
GAME TWO: Henderson State 16, Southern Nazarene 3
It was more of the same from Henderson State in game two of Saturday's doubleheader, as the Reddies recorded 15 hits and put up a crooked number in six different innings to slam SNU 16-3.
Eleven different players recorded hits in the seven-inning contest, while 12 scored runs and eight drove runs in. Danny Mitchell Jr. had four RBI on his two hits — a double and a home run — while Tucker and Myers each had a home run and three RBI to their credit.
Matthew Baker got the win on the mound after pitching five innings and allowing just one earned run on two hits. Brayden Bebee started the contest for HSU and struck out four batters in two innings of work.
Much like the first contest of the day, Henderson struck early with two runs in the first on a two-RBI single by Tucker. After a scoreless second, the Reddies never failed to score less than two runs in any frame for the remainder of the game.
Two home runs in the third helped extend the lead to 5-0 and after SNU got on the board in the top of the fourth, five more runs on five hits in the bottom half pushed the advantage to 9-1. Another two bombs from Lewis and Myers highlighted a five-run fifth inning and put the game away.Â
Freshman Corbin Tsistinas, who got the first hit of his career in the opening game, had the first RBI of his career in the sixth inning of the second contest, while pitcher Blake Patterson got the first hit of his five-year college career on a pinch-hit opportunity late.
