ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — No. 18 Henderson State staged comebacks in both games of the doubleheader on Saturday and then twice held off Oklahoma Baptist late to sweep the Bison with 10-9 and 6-4 wins at Clyde Berry Field.

The Reddies are now 11-0 to open the 2022 season and 3-0 to start Great American Conference play.

HSU will look to stretch its winning streak out to 12 games on Tuesday when it travels to Russellville, Arkansas to face Arkansas Tech in a non-conference midweek contest.

GAME 1: Henderson State 10, Arkansas Tech 9
The Reddies erased an early five-run deficit and a got a clutch go-ahead home run in the eighth from Colton Patterson to rally and defeat Oklahoma Baptist 10-9 to win the weekend series.

Henderson had 13 hits as a team, including three doubles and two home runs, and drew seven walks. Logan Cowart had one of the best game of his career at HSU and went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. David Vilches hit his eighth home run of the season and finished with two hits, as did Kaden Argenbright, Greyson Stevens, Bryson Haskins and Patterson.

Henry Coppens pitched the final 1.1 innings to close the door and earn his second win of the season. Andrew Howard was brilliant in relief and threw 3.1 scoreless innings where he did not allow a hit and struck out five batters. Starter Cade Tucker battled against a hot Oklahoma Baptist lineup and earned a no-decision after 4.1 innings of work.

HSU fell behind quickly in the second game of the series and faced deficits of 5-0 and 6-1 in the first two innings. The Reddies climbed their way back in the third, when they used three hits, three wild pitches and two walks to plate five runs and trim the lead down to 6-5. Cowart had a clutch two-out single to plate two of the runs.

The Reddies completely erased the deficit in the fourth courtesy of Vilches, who crushed a ball out of the park to left field. His eighth home run in the last seven games scored Argenbright and gave Henderson its first lead, 7-6.

The advantage was brief for HSU, who watched as OKBU's Kade Self mashed a three-run home run of his own in the top half of the fifth to give the Bison the lead once again, 9-7.

An RBI single from Argenbright in the seventh helped the Reddies trim the lead down to 9-8. After Howard and Coppens combined for a quick top of the eighth, Patterson delivered for Henderson on its turn to bat. With Haskins standing on first, Patterson smoked a home run off of the scoreboard in right field to fire up the dug out and give the Reddies a 10-9 lead.

Coppens got the first Oklahoma Baptist hitter to strike out swinging in the ninth, but the Bison used a walk to bring the winning run to the plate with one out. With a perfect ground ball scenario in mind, the Reddies got just that, as Cowart and Pate Fullerton turned a game-ending double play to eliminate the threat and win the series for HSU.

All nine of OKBU's hits came in the fifth inning or earlier. Howard and Coppens combined to throw 4.2 innings of scoreless relief after the Bison had hung nine runs on the board in the first five frames.
 
GAME 2: Henderson State 6, Oklahoma Baptist 4
The Reddies used a five-run fourth inning, highlighted by a three-run homer from Vilches, to defeat Oklahoma Baptist 6-4 and sweep the first GAC weekend series for both teams.

Argenbright was perfect at the plate for HSU and finished 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Four of Henderson's six hits in the game came in the fourth.

Ryan Galvan got his second win of the season on the mound by going 5.2 innings and allowing three earned runs on three hits. Galvan struck out three and walked four Bison hitters.

Henderson trailed 1-0 after the first three-and-a-half innings, but came alive in the fourth. With two outs in the frame, the Reddies got a single from Jacob Carroll, a walk from Fullerton and another single from Cowart to score the game-tying run and make it 1-1.

With Fullerton standing at second base, Argenbright delivered the go-ahead blow for HSU, as the third single of the inning gave Henderson a 2-1 lead. Vilches made certain there would be no runners stranded for the Reddies and delivered a towering three-run blast to centerfield. His ninth home run of the season in just 11 total games put HSU in front 5-1.

The Bison refused to go away quietly. Oklahoma Baptist used a solo shot in the fifth to make it 5-2, then scored twice more in the sixth courtesy of a wild pitch and an error. Suddenly clinging to a 5-4 lead, reliever Ethan Roark got the Reddies out of a jam and stranded two OKBU baserunners with an inning-ending groundout to second.

Argenbright's fourth hit and second RBI on a two-out single in the bottom half of the sixth gave HSU some insurance, 6-4, and that was all the Reddies needed, as Blake Pennington earned the save and slammed the door with a perfect seventh inning.

Despite going in front 1-0 early, Oklahoma Baptist did not record its first hit off of Galvan until the solo home run in the fifth. Henderson's pitching staff limited the Bison to just three hits in the seven-inning game.