ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Central Oklahoma hit solo home runs in each of the final two innings, and withstood a Henderson State rally in the bottom of the ninth, to defeat the Reddies 7-6 at Clyde Berry Field on Sunday morning.

The Reddies had taken a 2-1 lead on a wild pitch in the fifth inning, but UCO tied it 2-2 in the sixth thanks to two walks, a wild pitch and a hit batter, and then plated three more runs in the seventh to seize its first lead, 5-2.

Facing its first deficit of the day, Henderson rallied in the bottom half. A single from Greyson Stevens, followed by back-to-back doubles from Joe Myers and Caleb Carr, quickly trimmed the Bronchos' lead to 5-4. After tagging on a fly out, Carr came around to score moments later on a wild pitch which tied things back up at 5-5.

The tie was short-lived for the Reddies, as UCO's lead-off batters in both the eighth and ninth innings sent pitches over the fence in left field to put the Bronchos back in front 7-5.

Down to its final three outs and trailing by two runs, HSU tried to rally once again in the ninth. Stevens doubled to start the inning and a walk from Myers on the next at-bat gave Henderson two on with no outs.

The next two batters lined out and struck out to leave the Reddies with just three strikes to work with, but Danny Mitchell Jr. put HSU on the door step when he knocked an RBI single into right field to cut the lead to 7-6 and advance the tying run to third base. Unfortunately for Henderson, the tying run finished the game on the third base bag, as the Reddies' next batter flew out to end the game.

Carr led Henderson at the plate with three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored, while both Stevens and Brinson Williams finished with two hits. Reddies' starter Spencer Taack got a no-decision after pitching 5.0 innings and allowing just one run on three hits. Taack struck out three and walked four in his second start of the season.

HSU will return to the field on Tuesday when it travels to Jackson, Tennessee to take on Union at 2 p.m.