ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Less than a month after sweeping Henderson State at home in a weekend series, the No. 20-ranked Arkansas Tech baseball team traveled to Arkadelphia on Tuesday to play HSU in a non-conference mid-week game under the lights of Clyde Berry Field.
Henderson emerged victorious in the fourth game of the season series, beating Tech 14-6.
The Reddies (19-12) got off to a quick start thanks to a two-run home run two batters into the bottom of the first inning. Tech would limit the damage that inning to just those two runs and then answered back with three runs in the top of the third to take a 3-2 lead.
Markos Cabranes, who hit a pair of grand slams against the Reddies the last time the two met including the walk-off grand slam that put the finishing touches on an epic comeback that saw Tech go from trailing 13-0 to winning 26-15 in seven innings, led off that inning with a single through the left side.
Brandon Bunton then was hit-by-a-pitch.
The first run of the game for the Wonder Boys (22-10) in the next at-bat as
Logan Schwenke hit a double to left-centerfield to score Cabranes.
Luke Ray then drove in both Bunton and Schwenke on a single down the left field line.
An inning later, after batting around in the second, the Wonder Boys added two more runs to go up 5-2. Cabranes once more reached base to start the inning, this time doing so on a hit-by-pitch. Bunton then drove him in on a double to left-centerfield. Two batters later, Ray collected his third RBI of the game as he reached on a fielder's choice.
The Reddies would mount a comeback effort in their half of the third inning, however, and surged back in the lead thanks to a five-run inning.
After holding the Wonder Boys scoreless in the fourth, the Reddies doubled their lead out to four runs, 9-5, with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame.
That score held until the top of the seventh when the Wonder Boys pushed across their sixth run of the game. This time it was Cabranes who delivered the RBI as he singled to second base to score
Nick Jones, who led off the inning with a double to left-centerfield.
After Cabranes' RBI, Bunton was hit-by-a-pitch to bring the tying run to the plate. Following a flyout by Schwenke that moved Cabranes to third, the Wonder Boys called upon Yadier Media to pinch-hit against the Reddies' left-handed reliever. Medina would put a charge into a ball, but lined out to left to end the threat.
The Reddies then scored a pair of two-out runs in the seventh and added three runs in the eighth to put a cap on the game's scoring.
The Wonder Boys will now turn their attention to the weekend where they will remain on the road and take on Arkansas-Monticello in a three-game GAC series. The series is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 31 at 2 p.m. and conclude with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 1 starting at Noon.
