ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - After trailing 4-0 heading into the fifth inning, the Reddies scored five unanswered runs while closer
Henry Coppens (2-1) shut the door with two scoreless innings to finish things off against Harding in the series opener Friday night, 5-4.
Kaden Argenbright and
Luke Rice extended their hitting streaks to 11 and nine games, respectively, as the duo led the Reddies at the plate with two hits a piece. Rice added a team-high two RBI, both of which came in HSU's momentum-swinging four-run fifth inning.
Henderson State recorded 10 hits on one of the league's top pitching units while HSU's pitching allowed just six hits. Between relief pitchers
Luke Carter,
Baylor Brumley and closer Coppens, the Reddies relinquished just three hits in the final 3.1 innings, while holding the Bisons scoreless during that stretch.
Starting pitcher
Kyle Williams did not allow his first hit until the fourth inning, but that initial hit for HU yielded four runs for the 4-0 lead. Henderson, after recorded just three hits through the first four frames, delivered its own four-spot in the fifth frame.
Following a
Landon Ervin RBI ground-out to put HSU on the board, 4-1, Argenbright and Rice tacked on three more runs with back-to-back hits on two outs to tie the heavy-weight bout, 4-4.
Over the next three innings, Harding was forced to strand five base runners as Henderson took advantage of the strong defensive effort in the final half-inning for the red-and-gray. With the score still tied, a two-out double from
Dillon Thomas was followed by one of
Louis Holt's two hits on the evening to score pinch-runner
Nick Tremblay for the go-ahead run.
For the second time in four innings, the Bisons loaded the bases in the top of the ninth before Coppens induced the game-sealing fly-out to left field to give Henderson State the 5-4 game-one victory.
Overall, HSU forced Harding to strand nine base runners on the evening, including eight in the final four frames, before laying claim to the series-opening triumph.
Henderson St. (18-15, 12-7 GAC) will return to Clyde Berry Field for a doubleheader with Harding Saturday, Mar. 30 beginning at 1 p.m. The series finale will begin at approximately 4 p.m.
