ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team continued its hot hitting ways on Tuesday night as they hammered out 17 hits, eight of which went for extra bases, and scored 13 runs en route to a 13-7 non-conference win over Henderson State at Clyde Berry Field.
 
Of the eight extra-base hits, four left the yard for the Wonder Boys (13-6). Accounting for half of those big flies was Jonathon Arrieta as he cranked a pair of homers. Drew Bailey and Evan Hafley also hit home runs for the Wonder Boys. In addition to the long balls, Trace Maddux doubled once while Garrett Crews doubled twice. Josh Detweiler registered the lone triple of the game.
 
The offensive firepower for the Wonder Boys began almost immediately as Crews led off the game with a double to left-centerfield, but he was quickly erased on the base paths on a fielder's choice on Bailey's first at-bat of the game. Two batters later, the Wonder Boys were able to extend the inning as Detweiler reaching a fielding error by the Reddies (9-8) shortstop.
 
That error proved to be costly as Arrieta then came to the plate and two pitched into his at-bat connected on a homer out to left field.
 
Two innings later, Tech doubled their lead out to 6-0 on the strength of a solo home run by Bailey and a two-run blast by Arrieta. In the bottom of the frame, the Reddies were able to push across their first run of the game to make it a 6-1 game.
 
In the top of the fifth however, the Wonder Boys struck for three runs once more. This time the runs scored on a RBI fielder's choice for Landon Lord and a two-run double to right-centerfield by Crews. An inning later the score pushed out to a 10-1 advantage for the Wonder Boys as Matt Robbins drove in Hafley on a sacrifice fly.
 
The bottom of the inning suddenly made it a tight ballgame as the Reddies scored six runs on five hits to make it a 10-7 game.
 
Despite the fury by the Reddies in the bottom of the sixth, the Wonder Boys came back out in the top of the seventh and plated three more runs to take firm control of the game once more. In the seventh Bailey had a RBI single which was then followed by a two-run home run to dead centerfield off the bat of Hafley.
 
From there, the Wonder Boys' bullpen would put the clamps down and held the Reddies scoreless over the final three innings to bring the game to its eventual final of 13-7.
 
The Wonder Boys would use a total of four pitchers against the Reddies on Tuesday with John Walsh picking the start, the first in his collegiate career. Walsh would pitch 4.0 innings and struck out four. Armando Romero was first in relief and pitched 1.2 innings. Shelby Quiggins handled the next 2.1 innings and got the Wonder Boys out of the bottom of the sixth. For that effort, Quiggins got the win. Nick Kovar efficiently handled the ninth retiring all three batters faced.
 
The Wonder Boys will now turn their attention toward a monster weekend series at home against Oklahoma Baptist. The Wonder Boys are currently atop the GAC standings at 10-2 while the Bison are a game behind at 9-3. The three-game series is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 26 at 6 p.m. out at Baswell Field.