Henderson State would take advantage of a wild pitch in the bottom half of the 10^th inning to beat Southern Arkansas, 6-5 Friday at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia, Ark.

The Reddies, 13-16 overall and 9-7 in the Great American Conference, trailed 5-2 before rallying to tie the score with a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth.

Henderson entered extra-innings for the eighth time this season with the Reddies having a 1-6 record in extra frames and 0-10 when trailing after the seventh.

Things changed Friday as AJ Kruzel would lead off the ninth-inning with a triple to right-center field. Kruzel's shot would get past the diving Trevor Rucker and roll to the fence to the Cincinnati, Ohio native just 90-feet away with the winning run.

SAU would intentionally walk Jared Gage and Tadarious Hawkins to load the bases to set up the force out at home.

With the Muleriders brining in a fifth infielder, Luke McGuire stepped to the plate with the opportunity to give the Reddies the win. McGuire, who sported a .417 average (5-for-12), was looking for his first RBI of the year.

McGuire would not get the chance because with a 0-1 count, SAU pitcher Jared Fielden threw a pitch low that bounced off the turf and got away from catcher Justin Buchanan that allowed Kruzel to score the winning run.

SAU, 18-10 and 10-6, took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a Billy Germaine solo home run, but the lead would not last for long.

In the bottom half of the inning, with Hayden Lessenberry reaching when he was hit by a pitch and Kruzel driving a single to left field, Hawkins delivered a two-out triple to give Henderson a 2-1 advantage.

The Muleriders would explode for four runs in the sixth-inning to chase HSU starter Luke Tebbetts.

Jake Tisevich belted a two-run double and Keaton Miller supplied a RBI single to put SAU on top 5-2.

Henderson got a run back in the seventh when Hunter Mayall drove home Frank Chiolino with a single to cut the deficit to 5-3.

In the eighth, the Reddies scored two more runs with Hawkins again supplying the big hit, a run-scoring double.

While the Reddies fought back offensively, pitcher Blake Patterson held SAU in check as the freshman from Benton, Ark. would pitch the final five innings allowing three hits and striking out five batters to pick up the win and improve to 2-3 on the year.

Henderson totaled eight hits in the game with Hawkins, Mayall and Kruzel having two hits each.

The two teams will wrap up the three game series with a double-header Saturday at Clyde Berry Field with the first pitch set for 2 p.m.