ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team fell behind early but rallied in the late innings before ultimately falling one run short of Henderson State in the series-opener on Friday night at Clyde Berry Field.
In a battle of two of the top Friday night starters in the Great American Conference in Tech's
Patrick Miner and Henderson's Spencer Taack, the Reddies (24-10, 14-8 GAC) inflicted the first damage with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Two innings later, the Reddies added a run on a sacrifice fly. A couple of innings after that in the sixth, Henderson manufactured their fourth run on a fielder's choice.
On their offensive end, the Wonder Boys were finding it difficult to get anything mounted off Taack. Through the first five innings, Tech was held without a hit and only had one baserunner on a Henderson State error in the third.
In the top of the sixth, however, the Wonder Boys broke into the hit column as
Carter Thessing tripled to right field to lead off the inning. Taack would leave Thessing at third and preserved his shutout bid to that point as he retired the next three batters in order.
An inning later, the Wonder Boys were able to find their way into the run column thanks to pair of RBI extra-base hits. The first run was the result of a leadoff home run off the bat of
Josh Detweiler.
Yadier Medina followed that up with a single and then advanced to second base on a passed ball during the
Evan Hafley at-bat. Not long after the passed ball, Hafley doubled to right field to score Medina. Later in the inning, the Wonder Boys were able to chase Taack from the start, but reliver Brayden Bebee was able to get out of the seventh without further damage.
The Wonder Boys were held scoreless in the eighth but pulled within a run at the start of the ninth inning as Hafley hit a leadoff home run out to right field, making it a 4-3 game. The next three batters were retired, however, ending the game in favor of Henderson State.
The Wonder Boys and Reddies will conclude their weekend series with a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon starting at 1 p.m.
