ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State used three home runs in its GAC opener against Southwestern Oklahoma State to move to 6-3 on the season and 1-0 in league play, 14-8. It is the third time the Reddies have scored in double digits in four games.
 
As a team, Henderson totaled 16 hits, bringing the total hits of their last three wins to 42. Luke Farrar was responsible for two of those three homers in the opener while also tallying four RBIs. In addition, Kaden Argenbright and Austin Scritchfield both recorded three RBIs. On the mound, Ryan Galvan improved to 2-0 after 6.1 innings of work.
 
The early going looked dicey for Henderson State, with Southwestern's first two batters earning a walk. Despite second baseman Argenbright turning a double play on the next batter, a Bulldog base runner was left at third only to be brought home one at-bat later with a single to center field as SWOSU notched the first run of the game, 1-0.
 
Luke Farrar quickly erased that deficit with one swing of the bat, sending a lead-off solo home run to left field to tie things up at one apiece. A Greyson Stevens walk was followed by a Luke Rice single to score Stevens. Two batters later, with two outs against the Reddies, Argenbright sent Henderson's second home run of the first inning out of the park to extend the lead, 4-1.
 
After starting pitcher Galvan worked a three-up, three-down top of the second, a triple from Colton Patterson gave way to Farrar's second homer in as many innings for his second and third RBIs of the afternoon. Another quick at-bat for the visitors in the third yielded Henderson's third crooked number. Two runs and four hits later, including HSU's second triple of the contest, opened up an 8-1 advantage.
 
Another one-hit inning for Southwestern was followed by another run for Henderson for a 9-1 lead after four frames. Farrar's fourth RBI of the game in the fifth, followed by two more runs in the sixth off a Scritchfield double put HSU into run-rule territory, 12-1.
 
Two outs away from the Reddies' third run-rule victory in four games after SWOSU's lead-off hitter grounded out to second, the Bulldogs, who managed just one run and four hits through six innings, were able to continue play thanks to a three-run seventh. Henderson, who could still end things early with two runs, saw its first scoreless inning of the game in the home-half of the frame to make the score 12-4.
 
Southwestern used the shift in momentum to score another four runs in the top of the eighth to bring the score to 12-8 – the closest it had been since the first inning. Henry Coppens came to the mound with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate before logging the final out. Henderson then added two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning off a pair of walks to make it 14-8.
 
Coppens was able to sit the next three Bulldogs down in order to claim his first save of the season as Henderson won its GAC opener, 14-8. Games two and three of the weekend series will begin tomorrow at 12 p.m.