CHIPPING AWAY AT THE LEAD
Henderson State University golfer Sarah Wright chips onto the fourth green on the Park Course during the GAC women’s golf championship at Hot Springs Country Club Monday. Wright was the the leader heading into Monday’s second round.
Three-time defending champion Henderson State surged ahead in the second round of the Great American Conference men’s golf tournament Monday at Hot Springs Country Club.
Led by freshman Nick Shapiro, the Reddies had a four-man total of 276, 12 under par on the Arlington course and
17 strokes lower than in the first round Sunday. Henderson (569) leads by eight strokes over Arkansas Tech entering today’s final round with Harding (297 Monday) and Southwestern Oklahoma
(295) tied for third at 590. Shapiro had a 7-under 65, bettering the 6-under 66 of first-round leader Austin Smith for a 1-stroke lead over the Arkansas Tech senior.
Hot Springs senior Drew Greenwood, a first-team all-GAC honoree, had a 69 and classmate Price Murphree a 70 for the Reddies, also counting Monday the 72 of redshirt sophomore Cameron McRae. Greenwood, the 2015 GAC medalist, and McRae formerly played at Lakeside High.
Shapiro made the turn at 5-under 31 after his fifth birdie of the round at No.
9, following four consecutive from Nos.
3-6. He went 6 under at the 10th and
7 under at the 16th, bogeying the 17th before birdieing the 520-yard, par-five finishing hole.
Greenwood also made four straight birdies in going 3 under after 10, parring out after a fifth birdie at No. 15. McRae got to 2 under with a birdie at the 12th, his fourth of the round, before bogeying the 13th and 18th. Murphree stayed under par after a birdie at No. 6, also birdieing Nos. 14 and 18.
Smith struggled with four bogeys, three in a row on the back nine, before birdieing his last two holes.
Southeastern Oklahoma’s Hayden Foster (70) and Oklahoma Baptist’s Kyle Perdew (71) are tied for third at 141 with Arkansas Tech’s Luke Cornett fifth at
142 and Greenwood and Murphree tied for sixth at 143. Perdew and Oklahoma Baptist teammates are competing individually.
• Arkansas Tech leads the GAC women’s tournament by two strokes over Henderson State with one round remaining on HSCC’s Park course.
Tech had three players in the top five Monday with Pia Nunbhakdi second at
4-over 148, Caroline Fredensborg tied for third at 149 and Avery Struck tied for fifth at 151. The Golden Suns saw their first-round lead trimmed by three strokes after posting a team total of 305—607.
Henderson (302—609) closed ground despite first-round leader Sarah Wright following a 1-under 71 with a 78. Wright is tied for third, teammate Taylor Loeb tying for fifth at 73—151. Fellow Reddies Luisa Gartmann (73—154) and Hanna Braubarger (78—155) are eighth and ninth, respectively.
Southwestern Oklahoma’s Elin Wahlin took command individually with a tournament-low 70, 2 under, for an evenpar total of 144.
Lions drop game to Harmony Grove
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — Jessieville kept the Haskell Harmony Grove Cardinals from scoring in the first three innings, but a four-run fourth and four Lion errors led the Cardinals to a 6-1 win Monday.
Harmony Grove’s Braden Carman and Hunter Hilson scored after Zane Rogers lined a double to left field with two outs and the bases loaded. Dawson Ross and Logan Gartin followed with RBI singles, making it 4-0.
Jessieville scored in the bottom of the fourth. Adam Saveall singled with one out, advanced to second and took third on a ground out before coming home on Aaron Ford’s grounder to second.
Jared Toler singled home two runs in the Cardinals’ fifth.
Austin Harklau picked up the win, allowing one run and four hits with one strikeout in four innings. Austin Bull allowed two hits and a walk while striking out three in three innings of relief.
Kaleb Moody took the loss, allowing four unearned runs off four hits and three walks with one strikeout in four innings. Dalton McClard relieved Moody for two innings, allowing two runs off two hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Saveall pitched the final inning, striking out one.
Both teams enter a Class 3A district tournament next week, Harmony Grove 16-4 overall and Jessieville 12-7.