ARKADELPHIA, Ark.  —  Henderson State split a doubleheader with East Central on the opening day of Great American Conference play in Arkadelphia on Sunday. The Reddies posted a 13-11 victory in game one, but the Tigers responded with an 11-7 win of their own in game two.

GAME ONE
After ECU struck first with two runs in the top half of the second inning, HSU answered with a six-run rally in the bottom half. Louis Holt hit a two-run single to tie the game and, two batters later, Luke Rice recorded a two-run base hit of his own to help the Reddies take the lead. Austin Scritchfield tacked on two more runs with a double in the very next at-bat.

The Tigers' Ryan Strickland hit a two-run homer in the third to cut the deficit to two, but Henderson made it 8-4 that same inning with a Dylan Block RBI walk and a Cal Jones sacrifice fly. In the fifth, HSU added to its lead when Jaxson Gregg scored on a wild pitch and Rice drove in a run on a sac fly.

East Central scored two runs on wild pitches in the sixth, but the Reddies plated three runs the following inning on an error, a Cal Jones RBI double, and another Rice RBI single. ECU scored five runs in the top of the eighth, but Payton Byrd closed the door on a Reddie victory by recording the final four outs of the game without allowing a single run.

Rice paced the team with four RBI and scored once. The senior from North Little Rock, Arkansas, joined Block as the only two Henderson players with a multi-hit performance in game one on Sunday. Block reached safely a total of three times.

Holt, Gregg, Alex Galvan, Luke Farrar, and Block each scored twice. Galvan and Farrar stole one base apiece.

Reese Weaks claimed his first win of the season after allowing four earned runs through six innings of work as HSU's starter. Byrd earned his second save of the year in relief.

GAME TWO
Henderson State got on the board first after Cal Jones hit a leadoff triple and Luke Rice drove him in on a ground ball. East Central retorted with six runs in the top half of the second, including Strickland's second two-run home run of the series. 

The Reddies got a couple of runs back on a two-run sacrifice fly from Jaxson Gregg, but the Tigers responded with three more runs in the top of the fifth. Later that inning, Jones scored on a wild pitch and Luke Farrar launched a three-run homer - his second big fly in 2025 - to cut ECU's lead to three. 

The Tigers held HSU scoreless the rest of the way and added two insurance runs in the seventh to provide the game's final result.

Farrar finished game two with a team-best three hits and three RBI. The senior also scored twice.

Jones recorded two hits and two runs in the loss.

Jeremy Schork doubled in the fourth and later came around to score. 

ON DECK
Henderson State seeks to secure a 10th consecutive conference series victory over East Central in a rubber match on Monday. First pitch at Clyde Berry Field is slated for noon.