ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Henderson State got the starting pitching performance of the season from Ryan Galvan on Friday night and used home runs from both Luke Rice and Greyson Stevens to defeat No. 9 Southern Arkansas in the opening game of a three-game GAC series between the two teams.

Galvan, a junior lefty from Texarkana, Texas, was brilliant in six innings of work as he struck out eight Mulerider batters and surrendered just one run on five hits. His efforts came at the perfect time for the Reddies considering who was on the mound for SAU — 2022 National Pitcher of the Year Jeremy Adorno, who was previously unbeaten in his college career before suffering his first loss at Clyde Berry Field.

HSU (12-8, 6-4) tagged Adorno, who entered Friday evening 18-0 in his career at Southern Arkansas, for four runs on eight hits, all of them earned. Two big blasts from Rice in the first inning and Stevens in the third plated the first three of those runs, while a two-out RBI single from Rice in the fifth inning scored the last. Rice and Stevens shouldered much of the Reddie offense on the evening, combining to go 5-for-8 with four RBIs and three runs.

After the big hits from Rice and Stevens, Henderson led 4-0 after five innings, but the No. 9 Muleriders (13-6, 7-3) cut into the deficit with a run in the sixth to make it 4-1. SAU brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth, but Galvan struck out the final batter of the inning looking to end his day and end the Southern Arkansas threat.

SAU's biggest scoring chance came in the eighth, when two hits and a walk loaded the bases for the Muleriders with just one out. With the game in the balance, Reddies' reliever Henry Coppens rose to the occasion and struck out back-to-back batters to slam the door shut on the inning and swing the momentum back to HSU. Coppens was electric out of the pen and threw two scoreless innings of relief with five strikeouts.

Coppens' heroics effectively ended it for Henderson, as Cade Tucker made quick work of the Muleriders in the top of the ninth to earn his third save of the season and cement a big series-opening victory for the Reddies. 

HSU will look to win the series tomorrow when it faces Southern Arkansas again in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. in Arkadelphia.