COVERAGE LINKS

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Henderson State will gear up for its final GAC series at Clyde Berry Field this weekend when the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm come to Arkadelphia for a three-game stand. Friday, Apr. 14 will hold a doubleheader beginning 3 p.m. while the series finale will be played Saturday at 1 p.m.

With Saturday being the final regular season appearance at Clyde Berry Field of the 2023 season, Senior Day festivities will occur approximately 30 minutes prior to first pitch of game three. 

REDDIES REPORT (23-17, 14-10 GAC)
Henderson State has won three straight conference series', including taking two of three from Arkansas-Monticello this past weekend thanks to a 6-5 triumph in the rubber match. The series win marked the first time HSU had won the best-of-three over the Boll Weevils since 2013 as the Reddies have yet to drop a series at home.

Outside of league action, Henderson has fallen in back-to-back contests to Ouachita Baptist. Despite the loss in the latter game to the Tigers, Greyson Stevens added yet another record to his laundry list of program accolades, becoming the all-time leader in doubles (53) with his two-base knock to lead off the bottom of the eighth.

The Reddie bats have struggled lately as the team is hitting .294 for 11th in the conference. The pitching staff continues to operate as one the best units in the conference, however, carrying a 5.46 team-ERA for fourth in the league. Reese Weaks (4.57) and Ryan Galvan (4.82) are among the Top-12 in ERA for starting pitchers with Weaks also leading the league in fewest hits allowed at 35 while Andrew Howard is ninth (50).

Thanks to its most recent series win over UAM, Henderson St. is now solely in fourth place in the conference standings with a one-game lead on Monticello, who hosts Northwestern Oklahoma State this weekend, and Oklahoma Baptist, who travels to Ouachita Baptist this weekend, in the win-loss column. The Top-4 teams in the league rankings by season's end will host a first-round, best-of-three GAC Tournament series before the semifinals and finals are moved to Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Arkansas.

Henderson State has enjoyed unrivaled success against Southern Nazarene, having won 15 consecutive games over the Crimson Storm. Last time HSU lost a game to SNU was 2017 while the red-and-gray have never dropped a GAC series to them. Since the beginning of the 2020 season, Henderson has beaten Southern Nazarene by 10 or more runs in seven of the nine meetings.  

SCOUTING SOUTHERN NAZARENE (14-25, 6-18 GAC)
Southern Nazarene is seeing one of its best seasons since joining the GAC, having currently recorded its most conference wins in a single season since 2018 (7) and the most overall wins since 2014 (16). With nine conference contests remaining, SNU needs just three more league wins to tie its most conference victories in the program's GAC era.

The Crimson Storm boast some of the best bats in the league with a team-batting average of .321 for third in the conference. Aiding in that effort is sophomore utility player DJ Van Atten, who is leading all of NCAA Division II with a .503 batting average. Van Atten has recorded at least two hits in each of his last 10 games.

Teams like Henderson can hope to offset SNU's strong offense by exploiting its pitching as Southern Nazarene is 11th in the league with a team-ERA of 10.05. Of this current nine-game skid the Crimson Storm are on, opponents have scored nine or more runs five times. In contrast, HSU has only allowed its opponents to score nine or more runs five times in the last 17 games.