SEARCY, Ark. — Henderson State fell victim to hot bats and elite pitching on Friday night at Harding and fell in both halves of a GAC doubleheader on the road.
The Bisons racked up 29 hits in the 16 innings of action, and received stellar starting pitching in the first game and incredible relief pitching in second, to take two from the Reddies at Jerry Moore Field.
HSU will look to steal a game in the weekend series tomorrow at 1 p.m.
GAME 1: Harding 11, Henderson State 3
Harding hung crooked numbers on the scoreboard in five different innings on Friday afternoon and locked down Henderson's bats to defeat the Reddies 11-3.
HSU was limited to seven hits in the contest due in large part to Bisons' starter Andrew Bradshaw. Bradshaw, who came into Friday with an 8.49 ERA on the year, pitched seven innings, allowed one run and struck out five batters with no walks.
Harding smashed 14 hits and scored two runs in the first, third, fourth, sixth and eighth. The Reddies committed a season-high four errors on the day in the field and had just two hits through the first six innings.
Daniel Colasanto had two hits and two RBIs to lead HSU at the plate. Austin Cross took the loss on the mound after giving up four earned runs on five hits in three innings of work.
GAME 2: Harding 9, Henderson State 8
An early eight-run lead did not hold up for the Reddies in the second game of the doubleheader, as Harding scored nine unanswered runs and upended Henderson 9-8 in eight innings.
It was all HSU at the start of game two. The Reddies went up 2-0 in the first on a two-run home run from Greyson Stevens, then exploded for six runs on five hits in the second inning to seize a commanding 8-0 advantage.
The Bisons began chipping away by plating one in the bottom half, but came roaring back in the third and fourth innings, where they scored seven runs to quickly tie the game at 8-8. HU had five hits in the third, but three Henderson errors led to three unearned runs in the fourth.
It became a pitcher's duel from that point on, as Cade Tucker and Taylor Langston of HSU traded blows with Harding reliever Ryder Yakel. Both sides kept a clean sheet until the bottom of the eighth, when a double and back-to-back singles into right field ended it in the Bisons' favor, 9-8.
Langston got the loss in spite of a great effort out of the pen. The senior pitched two innings and struck out six batters but allowed one run on three hits — all of which came in the eighth. Stevens was 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs in the loss for the Reddies.
Yakel proved completely untouchable. The Kansas native struck out the side three times and pitched a perfect four innings of relief with nine strikeouts.
