WEATHERFORD, Okla. — No. 16 Henderson State scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning in the final game on Saturday to earn a 10-8 win and split a doubleheader with Southwestern Oklahoma State on the road.

The Reddies (20-8, 12-6) return to action on Tuesday, when they host Lyon College at Clyde Berry Field at 5 p.m.

GAME 2: Henderson State 10, SWOSU 8 (8 inn.)
In a dramatic series finale, the Reddies threw out the game-winning run for SWOSU to end the seventh inning, and then capitalized with three runs in the top of the eighth, to salvage a game in the weekend set, 10-8.

Four different players had two hits in the win, including Luke Farrar, who finished with three RBIs, a double and his first home run of the year. Six pitchers toed the rubber for Henderson in the seven-inning contest, with Andrew Howard, who pitched three innings of relief, earning the win. Howard struck out three and allowed one run on three hits.

SWOSU took a 1-0 lead after one inning, but the Reddies hung a crooked number in the second frame when four doubles and six total hits led to five runs and a 5-1 advantage. 

Two runs in the bottom half of the second helped the Bulldogs trim the deficit to 5-3. After a scoreless third, Southwestern flipped the script with three runs on a double and a triple in the fourth to go in front, 6-5.

With its four-run cushion gone, HSU got a big boost from Farrar in the fifth, when he hit a two-run home run over the wall in left center to help the Reddies retake the lead, 7-6.

It looked as though the slim advantage might hold up for Henderson, as the Reddies held SWOSU scoreless in the fifth and sixth innings. The seventh was a different story, however. Down to its final out and with two runners in scoring position, the Bulldogs got a clutch RBI single into left field to tie the game. 

Although the tying run came home to score from third, left fielder David Vilches made the play of the game for HSU and threw out the potential winning run at the plate to end the inning and send the contest into extras. 

After staving off the Bulldogs in the seventh, Henderson got going in the eighth. The Reddies used a walk, a single and an intentional free pass to load the bases with no outs, then cashed in two runs on an error by the Southwestern second baseman, to seize a 9-7 lead. A third insurance run came home on a groundout RBI from Nick Butler moments later.

SWOSU refused to go away quietly, and loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the eighth, but freshman reliever Cole Oswald got a fly out and a huge double play to preserve the 10-8 win for the Reddies.

GAME 1: SWOSU 6, Henderson State 3
The Bulldogs limited HSU to just four hits in the first game on Saturday and held on for a 6-3 win to clinch the series over the No. 16 Reddies.

David Vilches hit his 10th home run of the year for Henderson in the fifth, but it was one of just two hits the Reddies were able to muster in the first seven innings of game one. Southwestern, meanwhile, scored three runs on four hits in the fourth, then added two more on a home run in the sixth, to take a 5-1 lead after six complete. 

A sac fly RBI from Vilches after a walk and stolen base from Bryson Haskins brought the Reddies within 5-2 in the seventh. HSU then doubled its hit count for the game in the eighth with a triple from Kaden Argenbright and RBI single from Dillon Thomas to make it 5-3.

That would be as close as Henderson would come, however. SWOSU tacked on an insurance run on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom half of the eighth, then sat the Reddies down in order to end it in the ninth. 

Cade Tucker struck out seven in 5.2 innings of work, but took his first loss of the season for HSU. Tucker surrendered four earned runs on seven hits. The Reddie pitching staff struck out 12 Bulldogs batters and issued just two walks in defeat.