Tweet #theGAC  ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Pitchers Reese Weaks and Mitchell Szczygiel delivered a combined two-hit shutout victory in game one of the opening round series of the 2023 GAC Tournament against Arkansas-Monticello Friday evening, 8-0. The eight-run victory marks the largest win over the Boll Weevils since the formation of the GAC.

Weaks earned the no-decision on the mound after getting the start, working four complete innings while allowing just one hit and tallying a game-high six strikeouts. The Princeton, Texas, product has claimed at least five strikeouts in five of his last six appearances on the bump.

Szczygiel (6-1) earned the win after continuing the effort put forth by Weaks, closing out the game's final five innings by facing just 17 batters - two more than the minimum - and giving up one hit and claiming a strikeout.

Offensively, Henderson got 10 hits from seven different players as Greyson Stevens, Luke Rice and Dillon Thomas each tallied two hits, with Thomas logging a season-high three RBIs. Rice reached base a total of four times after working a pair of walks to go with his two-hit day while he and Logan Cowart followed Thomas with two RBIs.

Five of Henderson's first nine outs came via strikeout, two of which came in the first inning as HSU's defense started out strong by stranding a pair of Weevil base runners. The Reddie offense responded with three straight one-out doubles courtesy of Stevens, Rice and Thomas in the bottom of the first. A Jacob Carroll single after a UAM fielding error resulted in three runs for the red-and-gray before the second inning.

Pitching and defense continued to excel as the score remained 3-0 until the bottom of the fourth when Henderson delivered its second crooked number of the contest. Similar to the first inning, the Reddies strung together three consecutive hits to plate two more runs before Thomas came through with his second RBI of the game with a two-out single to bring the score to 6-0.

With the six-run advantage, Szczygiel relieved Weaks in the fifth, giving up the only hit of his outing to the second batter he faced. After that, the first-year Reddie from Fort Scott Community College retired 11 of Monticello's next 12 batters to keep UAM's offense from getting anything going.

Henderson added two more runs in the sixth to put the finishing touches on the shutout. After the first three HSU batters got on either by a hit-by-pitch or a walk, Rice and Thomas finished the deal with an RBI single and an RBI fielder's choice, respectively, to extend the lead. From there, the Boll Weevils failed to land another base runner as game one of the GAC Tournament opening round series went to the Reddies, 8-0.

Henderson St. will return to Clyde Berry Field tomorrow where they will look to punch their ticket to the GAC Tournament semifinals with a win in either game two of the best-of-three series at 1 p.m. or game three (if necessary) at approximately 4 p.m.