ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State finished off its three-game set with Southwestern Oklahoma State in style on Saturday, as the Reddies used strong pitching to defeat the Bulldogs 5-1 and sweep the GAC weekend series.
The three victories over SWOSU improve the Reddies to 12-8 on the year and 9-6 in conference play. HSU is tied for fourth in the league standings through five weekends.
Spencer Taack was the story for Henderson on Saturday, as the junior from Dallas earned his fourth win of the season on the mound. The right hander pitched 5.1 innings and allowed one unearned run on just five hits. Taack struck out four Bulldog batters and walked none.
Joe Myers, who finished the three-game series 6-for-9 at the plate, was 3-for-4 in the sweep-clinching contest and scored two runs. Myers has now scored 125 runs in his career at HSU and is two away from becoming the all-time runs scored leader in program history.
Henderson went in front 2-0 in the first inning on an RBI double from Myers and a ground out from Alec Lewis which drove in one. The Reddies did not score again until the eighth, but the lead held up regardless thanks to Taack, who allowed just three hits in the first five innings.
SWOSU's biggest threat came in the sixth, when they loaded the bases with just one out. Brayden Bebee helped HSU avoid the big inning from the Bulldogs, and used two strikeouts and a line out to hold Southwestern to just one run.
Leading 2-1, HSU got the insurance it needed in the eighth when Josh Aguilar finished off a terrific at-bat with a two-RBI double into left field to make it 4-1. A passed ball and a perfectly executed bunt single from Nick Butler tacked on one more, as Aguilar came around to score and increase the lead to 5-1.
Cade Tucker, who entered in the seventh, closed it out for HSU and earned his second save of the season by pitching a nearly spotless final 2.2 frames. Tucker gave up just one hit, struck out two and sat down the final three SWOSU batters in order in the ninth inning.
The Bulldogs, who entered the weekend leading the GAC in team batting average, were held to just six total runs in the three-game series by the Henderson pitching staff.
HSU returns to the field on Tuesday night when it hosts Harding in a non-conference game at 6 p.m. in Arkadelphia.
