CONROE, Texas - Sophomore Lauren Mills was the story of the afternoon for Wichita State who went 2-0 on the opening day of the Scrap Yard Blizzard Challenge.

Wichita State defeated Tarleton State (9-3) and Lamar (19-0) to begin the season, but it was Mills' performance at the plate in game two vs. Lamar that stole the headlines. Mills set a new school record with three home runs in the game, something no other Shocker had accomplished before. Two of her three bombs came in the same inning, an 8-run second inning for Wichita State. She finished 3-for-3 with six RBI in the 19-0 run-rule.

Wichita State began the day with a 9-3 win over Tarleton State, who is playing its first season as a Division I program. Bailey Lange got the start in the circle pitching all 7.0 innings. She allowed three runs on nine hits, while striking out nine batters.

Freshman Addison Barnard got the start in her first collegiate game, and registered her first career home run. She finished 2-for-2 at the plate with two RBI and three runs scored. Neleigh Herring went 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and two runs scored.

Wichita State scored in each of the first three innings, taking a 5-0 lead before Tarleton got on the board in the fifth to make it 5-2. The Shockers immediately answered in the home half of the fifth with three more runs to increase the lead to six. Both teams added one more run each in the sixth inning.

In game two, Madison Perrigan drove in five runs behind a pair of doubles and Herring had another stellar outing at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Sydney McKinney drove in three of her own and Sydney Nichols plated the final two.

Erin McDonald struck out a career-high 11 in 5.0 innings of work, allowing no runs on just two hits.

After a scoreless first inning the floodgates opened in the top of the second. Mills led off the inning with her first homer of the day, a solo bomb. Later in the inning Perrigan drove in a pair on a double to right. Herring then traded places with Perrigan on a double of her own. The very next batter, Mills, made it 8-0 Wichita State on her second home run of the inning - this one a two-run shot.

After back-to-back doubles from Perrigan (two RBI) and Herring (one RBI) made it 11-0 Shockers, Mills made her final plate appearance count. She unloaded the bases with a three-run blast to make it 14-0 for her record-setting third home run of the game.

Wichita State tacked on four more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to put the cherry on top.

Wichita State will finish play at the Scrap Yard Blizzard Challenge Sunday against Texas A&M Corpus Christi (11 a.m.) and No. 7 Texas (1:15 p.m.).