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ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – After a trip to the Sooner State, Henderson State returns home to face No. 20 Harding in a weekend series at Dee White Field starting on Saturday, Apr. 1 at 2 p.m. followed by a second game at 4 p.m. The Reddies will wrap up the series on Sunday with a single game at 12 p.m.
REDDIES REPORT
Henderson (15-18, 7-10) started the series against East Central with a 3-1 win in eight innings, but the Tigers came roaring back to win the next two contests to clinch a series win. The HSU bats struggled with runners on base over the three games, stranding 15 runners over 22.0 innings, including leaving the bases loaded twice.
Brooke Johnson continues to give opposing bats trouble in the circle after getting her sixth win of the season, going all eight frames in game one and allowing just one run. The Rockwall, Texas native has pitched 56.1 innings after the complete game against ECU and recorded four strikeouts in the outing to bring her total to 42.
Abbie Moore led at the plate with three hits in three games and logged her eighth multi-hit game in the second contest. The North Richland Hills, Texas native is hitting .356 and leads the team in RBIs (20), total bases (59) and home runs (6). In addition, the third baseman has matched her offensive output on defense with 20 putouts and 66 assisted putouts to just two errors.
HSU trails Harding 18-13 heading into the ninth series meeting between the two sides. The Lady Bisons recently took the upper hand in the head-to-head matchup with back-to-back series wins, including a sweep last season. Johnson made two appearances in the circle last year, recording a career-high ten strikeouts in game one and allowing six runs over 8.2 innings.
SCOUTING NO. 20 HARDING
The Lady Bisons (26-6, 12-5) are second in the GAC standings after getting a series victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State most recently, winning the first two contests before falling in the final game. Harding has series wins over two currently ranked teams this season with a sweep over No. 24 Southern Arkansas and took two games from No. 25 Oklahoma Baptist.
Leading HU in the circle is the reigning GAC Pitcher of the Week Riley Price, who threw a complete game shutout in game one against NWOSU and had seven punchouts through 12.0 frames across the weekend. The Lady Bisons' pitching staff ranks second in the GAC with a 2.26 ERA, and batters are hitting .239 against Harding arms.
At the plate, Macy Smith leads the GAC's top-ranked team in hitting with a .419 batting average and is one of four players to tally 36 hits. As a team, Harding is hitting .309 and has 17 home runs and a league-best 61 doubles.
