ARKADELPHIA, Ark. -- Delta State took a pair of seven inning mid-week games on the road at Henderson State, winning 5-1 and 11-0. The day saw five Statesmen record multiple hits with Landon Thibodeaux collecting three hits and driving in four runs.
Game 1 had Casey Greene (3-1) provide another strong start by pitching 5.2 innings to gain his third win of the season. Greene scattered four hits and surrendered just the one run while striking out a pair of Reddies.
HSU jumped out to an early lead by scoring in the second inning when Andy Kovarik hit a solo home run to centerfield. Greene would settle down after the at bat, retiring the Reddies scoreless until Will Robertson moved from left field to the pitcher's mound to shut down the Henderson State offense with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings.
Delta State scored three runs in the fourth inning, along with a single run each in the fifth and sixth innings.
In the third inning Ricky Velez picked up his first triple of the season to score Dex Herrington and Brent Langston, Herrington lead off the inning with a single and moved to third on Langston's 11th double of the season. Carlos Leal followed up with an RBI single to right field that brought home Velez.
Robertson scored the only run of the fifth inning on a Langston sacrifice fly. Leal stared the sixth inning with a solo home run, his first of the season, to complete the scoring. Leal ended the game going 2-for-3 with two RBI and the one run scored.
Herrington went 3-for-4, with Robertson and Velez turning in 2-for-4 days at the plate. Velez picked up the pair of RBI while the middle of the lineup each scored runs.
The second game of the day saw four Delta State (32-9) combine to five-hit Henderson State on the way to the 11-0 victory. Nick Goza picked up the start, in 2.0 innings of work he allowed just one hit and a lone walk. Travis Northern (1-0) was brought in to start the third inning and picked up the victory in relief. Northern pitched 2.2 innings with one hit allowed and five strike outs. Trevor Blocker added 1.1 innings with two hits allowed before Taylor Stark closed the game with one hit and two strike outs in the final inning of play.
Delta State score three runs in the top of the first inning. Langston and Herrington executed a double-steal and as the catcher could not handle the pitch Herrington moved around to score the first run of the game. Langston and Velez would score later in the inning on a Thibodeaux double to left field to extend the lead to 3-0.
After back-to-back walks to Velez and Ben Pickard, Thibodeaux was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Kasey Hinton. Velez would move around to score as Hinton was hit by a pitch from Henderson State's (17-28) Jeff White. Jonathan Andrews followed up with a single that scored Pickard and Thibodeaux, Andrews moved to second base on the throw from the outfield to the plate with Hinton advancing to third. Jordan Chovanec would load the bases when he got hit by a pitch for the third hit batter of the inning. Robertson singled to left field to drive home Hinton and Andrews to make the score 8-0 after the top of the third inning.
Henderson State threatened in the home portion of the fifth inning. Blocker inherited runners on first and second base and two outs before walking the first batter he faced to load the bases, he would settle down and induce a ground ball by Hunter Mayall that Andrews tossed to Hinton to end the inning.
Thibodeaux added his third RBI of the game with a sixth inning single to score Pickard from second base after his double lead off the inning. Austin McClain entered the game as a pinch hitter for Chovanec and singled to left field to score Thibodeaux, the hit and RBI for McClain were his first this season in each category.
The final run of the game was scored in the top of the seventh when Hunter Twitty scored on Thibodeaux's third hit of the game. Twitty had come into the game earlier as a pinch hitter in the designated hitter spot in the lineup.
Stark ended the game by striking out two of the final three batters he faced in the final inning.
Robertson added three more hits in the second game, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Andrews joined Thibodeaux and Robertson with three hits, going 3-for-4 while scoring once and driving in a pair. Thibodeaux went 3-for-3 with four RBI and two runs scored to pace the offense.
