It was one of those days where nothing went right for Henderson State as the Reddies dropped its Great American Conference series opener to Ouachita Baptist 7-3, Saturday at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia, Ark.
Henderson State, 25-23 overall and 18-13 in the GAC, hit into two big double plays and left 11 runners on base.
OBU, 16-31 and 12-19, scored single runs in the first and third innings before the Reddies got on the board in the bottom of the third.
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Jake Gaul led off the inning with a single to right field followed by a walk issued to
Jared Gage. Both Gaul and Gage would advance on a deep fly ball by
Hunter Mayall before
Jordan Taylor walked to load the bases.
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Henderson would score when
AJ Kruzel hit a sacrifice fly to right field that forced home Gaul. However, the Reddies could not plate another run in the inning as
Tadarious Hawkins grounded out to second to end the inning.
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Ouachita pushed its lead to 5-1 in the fifth scoring three runs with the help of four walks in the inning.
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With the bases loaded and two out, Reddie pitcher
Luke Tebbetts looked to have struck out Ryan Hammer to get out of the jam. Henderson, however, got an unfavorable call that led to a walk and a run. Preston Spears would then single to plate two more runs to give the Tigers a four run advantage.
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Trailing 6-1, the Reddies got a run back on a
Jared Gage double that scored Gaul from first base after reaching on a fielder's choice.
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In the Henderson seventh, Kruzel hit a line shot to Will Wallace at first base that doubled up Taylor who walked to lead off the frame. Hawkins then stepped up to the plate and delivered his third home run of the season to make the score 6-3.
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The Tigers got the run back in the eighth-inning before the Reddies put together a threat in the ninth.
Henderson had runners on second and third with one out, but the next two Reddies were retired without any damage being done.
The Reddies totaled just six hits in the game with Gary going 2-for-4 to lead the offense.
Tebbetts suffered the loss on the mound falling to 3-4 on the year.
The two teams will wrap up the series with a double-header Sunday at Clyde Berry Field beginning at 1 p.m.
Due to damage caused by the recent thunderstorms, there will be no live video stream on Sunday. Repairs are in the works and should be completed by next week.
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