ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State got terrific pitching performances from Spencer Taack and Brayden Bebee on Friday night and defeated Arkansas Tech 4-3 in the series opener at Clyde Berry Field.

With the victory, the Reddies improved to 24-10 overall, 14-8 in the GAC and 17-3 at home this season.

Taack earned his seventh win of the spring by pitching 6.1 innings and allowing one earned run on four hits. He struck out six Wonder Boy batters and walked just one. Bebee relieved him and threw the final 2.2 innings for HSU. He picked up his fourth save of the year by surrendering just one run on one hit. 

Henderson out-hit Tech 7-5 on Friday with three of the seven hits coming from Dillon Thomas, who finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Bryson Haskins also scored two runs and was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

The Reddies controlled the game through six innings. An RBI single from Pate Fullerton and a double steal in the second inning gave HSU a 2-0 lead. Jacob Carroll drove in runs on sacrifice fly in the fourth and a fielder's choice in the sixth to stretch the advantage to 4-0 after six.

After being held to just a single hit through the first six frames by Taack, Arkansas Tech got going in the seventh. ATU used a solo home run and an RBI double to score two runs and cut the Henderson lead in half, 4-2. The Wonder Boys had the tying runs on second and third base with two outs in the inning, but Bebee got a strikeout looking to end the threat.

Both sides stranded a runner in the eighth to keep the score 4-2, but Tech continued to climb back in the ninth, as it got its second solo blast of the night to trim the deficit to just 4-3 with no outs. After giving up the home run, Bebee benefited from a diving snag at first base from Greyson Stevens to record the first out, then calmly induced back-to-back groundouts to win it for the Reddies.

HSU will look to win the series tomorrow when it meets Arkansas Tech for a doubleheader at 1 p.m. in Arkadelphia.