Henderson State's bid for upset fell just short as Southern Arkansas beat the Reddies 7-6, Friday in the opening round of the Great American Conference Baseball Tournament in Enid, Okla.

Trailing 6-3 in top of the ninth-inning, Henderson State provided the fans with plenty of excitement

With one-out in the inning, Zac Zdanowicz hit a double to left-center field then Jordan Trosclair received a walk. Following Conner Brackhahn was called out on strike and the Reddies were down to their final out.

Josh Salmon then put a charge into a James Baune pitch and lifted it over the left-field wall for his fourth home run of the year to tie the score at 6-6.

In the SAU's half of the ninth, Trey Buck led off the inning with a double down the left-field line and then advanced to third on Rafael Thomas' sacrifice bunt. After David Allday received an intentional pass, Brady Capshaw provided the game winning run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Buck.

Henderson State, 23-26 on the year, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first-inning as the Reddies put together four hits in the frame. Trosclair began things with one-out as he hit a bloop single down the right-field line.

Brackhahn then followed with a single to left field, with both runners advancing on the throw to third in an attempt to get Trosclair.

Salmon then put the Reddies on the board with a single to right field to plate Trosclair. Micahel Corso collected Henderson's four consecutive hit which scored Brackhahn and gave the Reddies a 2-0 advantage.

Adam Ussery then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners with two outs. Henderson's third run came when Michael Schell hit a hard grounder to third-base which was misplayed and allowed Salmon to score.

Southern Arkansas, 33-14 on the year, then put up a big number in the third-inning as the Muleriders scored six runs on eight hits.

The inning began with four straight hits including run-scoring singles by Thomas and Allday.

The big blow, however, came when Phillip Menou hit a two-run home run to left field to make the score 5-3.

After SAU's six-run third, Baune kept Henderson hitless until the seventh when Zac Zdanowicz hit a one-out infield single followed by Trosclair's second hit of the game.
 
The Reddies, however, failed to score as Brackhahn flew out and Salmon grounded out to the pitcher to end the inning.


After Reddie starting pitcher Nathan Eller left the game in the fourth-inning, Dusty Thornton entered game and shut the Muleriders down for next five innings before the Muleriders scored the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth.

Henderson ended the game with 12 hits with Slamon having three hits and four runs batted in, while Trosclair, Zdanowicz, and Corso all had two hits each.

The Reddies will next face the either Ouachita Baptist or Southeastern Oklahoma in an elimination game on Saturday beginning at Noon.