Box Score

Henderson State squandered a three-run lead as fourth-ranked Southern Arkansas scored six unanswered runs in the final three innings to beat the Reddies 7-4, Friday at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia, Ark.

Henderson State, 5-14 overall and 4-6 in the Great American Conference, built a 4-1 run lead through six innings.

Things got started in the first-inning as Hunter Mayall led things off with a single and scored on a Connor Brackhahn ground out after advancing to third on a SAU error.

SAU put together three hits in the fifth-inning but was able to only tie the score on a Tyler Cameron single.

The Reddies regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Tadarious Hawkins reached on a single and advanced to third on a Andrew Reynolds double to right field.

Hawkins then scored when Mayall grounded out to second while Reynolds advanced to third. However, Reynolds was left stranded at third as SAU pitcher Dylan Lynn struck out Lance Fields on a squeeze bunt attempt that also resulted in Reynolds being thrown out in a run down.

Brackhahn got the Reddie sixth-inning started when he singled to left field and went to third when Matt Evans followed with a single to right field.

With one-out, Joseph Gary singled to left field to score Brackhahn followed by a sacrifice fly by Carlos Rodriguez to increase the Reddie lead to 4-1.

Colton Lorance cruised through the first six-innings on the mound for the Reddies, but the junior left-hander ran into to trouble in the seventh.

The Reddie pitching staff has been plagued with walking and hitting batters most of the season, and so was the case on Friday as five SAU batters were hit by pitches.

It began in the seventh when Korey Keith was hit by pitch with one-out. SAU loaded the bases when Jackson McCurdy singled to left field and Will Townsend was also hit by pitch.

With two-outs Cameron hit a deep fly ball to center field driving Hawkins to the fence. Hawkins caught the ball as he simultaneously slammed into the fence, but the sophomore from Commerce, Texas was unable to hang on to the ball resulting in a base-clearing triple.

SAU took the lead as Jon Phillips singled to right-field to plate Cameron and make the score 5-4.

The Muleriders added two more runs in the ninth-inning, again benefitting from a walk and two batters being hit by pitches.

Henderson State ended the game with 11 hits with Mayall, Joseph Gary and Andy Kovarik having two hits each.

Lorance was tabbed with the loss for the Reddies falling to 2-2 on the year. The product of Texarkana, Texas pitched seven complete innings, striking out four batters and giving up five runs on eight hits.

Luke Tebbetts pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three runs while hitting two batters. Stephen Brooks faced one batter and recorded a strikeout.

Lynn pitched six innings for SAU and improved to 3-1 on the year, while Blake Sullivan pitched the final three innings to pick up the save.

The two teams will finish the three-game series with a double-header beginning at Noon at Clyde Berry Field.