ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - No. 4 seed Henderson State outhit No. 5 seed Southern Arkansas Saturday afternoon, 11-6. However, all six of the Muleriders' hits were for extra bases as SAU powered past the Reddies in game two, 7-4, winning the 2024 GAC Tournament opening-round best-of-three series.
Saturday was the first time since 2021 HSU dropped the first two games of a weekend series against a conference opponent.
For the second time in two games, Henderson held a 3-0 lead. For the second time in two games, SAU erased that lead to capture the game-two victory.
In his final game at Clyde Berry Field, senior
Logan Cowart finished 3-for-4 at the plate while scoring one run.
Kaden Argenbright finished his collegiate career with a program-record 28-game hitting streak as he delivered one hits with an RBI and a run scored in his final collegiate game.
In yesterday's contest, Henderson State did not record an extra-base hit. Saturday, HSU managed three extra-base hits in just the first inning as Argenbright,
Jordan Allen and
Luke Farrar's doubles helped the Reddies to its second 3-0 lead of the weekend.
Following the first inning, the red-and-gray mustered just one more run on six hits.
Ethan Perry and
Andrew Howard allowed just two hits from the mound through the first five innings, but Southern Arkansas cut into the lead with its fourth home-run of the weekend on a two-run blast in the sixth inning.
Now holding just a 3-2 lead, a single hit in the bottom of the sixth gave way to the Muleriders' biggest frame of the weekend. Southern Arkansas took advantage of the Reddies' pitching change, scoring five runs on three hits, all of which were doubles.
Facing its first deficit of the game, Henderson managed to load the bases in the seventh on two outs, but a strike ended the threat, just as it did the day before in the same situation.
Once again, HSU kept the deficit at four before getting two men on base in the eighth, but could not bring either of the two base runners back around to the plate. In the ninth, Cowart and Argenbright recorded a double and his 200th career RBI, respectively, in each of their final at-bats before HSU fell, 7-4.
Henderson St. finishes the 2024 season with 20 conference wins for the third consecutive season while playing in the GAC Tournament for the fourth straight year. Prior to this weekend's GAC Tournament Final Four, the All-GAC awards will be announced as HSU, after capturing the league's No. 4 seed, will look to be well represented.
