ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Reddies face off against a steady Crimson Storm team who sit at .500 in GAC play.

Henderson State (15-11, 5-9 GAC) is set to face Southern Nazarene (16-13, 7-7 GAC) in Bethany, with games starting on Friday at 3 p.m. and a double header on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.

REDDIE REPORT

Henderson State has found itself on the opposite side of a few tightly contested battles. The Reddies' last five of six games have been decided by two runs or less, and they nearly walked it off on Tuesday against the Tigers.

The Henderson State pitching staff continues to be one of the best rotations in the conference. The Reddies have two pitchers with an ERA of two or lower. Brooke Johnson (3-2) and Jersey Cabana (6-2) have been dominant, in 44 innings Johnson has struck out 43 and posts a 1.59 ERA while Cabana posts a 1.95 ERA and has pitched four complete games. Presley Applegate has been dominant in relief, including four saves in 15 appearances.

Henderson State found its groove during the Tuesday midweek series versus Lane College. On the trip to Jackson, Tenn. the Reddie bats were in full swing. The Reddies scored 22 runs in just two games, Macy Hoskins added eight RBIs between two games including a three-run homerun in the second game. Hoskins has been on fire in recent weeks, the sophomore rom Bryant, Arkansas is batting .386 with 20 RBIs and a team high five homeruns. As the leadoff hitter Justine Burch leads the team in batting average (.390), on-base percentage (.495) and stolen bases (18).
 
In the last GAC series, the Reddies took a game from Oklahoma Baptist, their first win versus the Bison since 2021. The Crimson Storm were unable to take a game from the Bison in their GAC midweek doubleheader.

HSU will look to take the offense they had against Lane and build on that performance against SNU.

SCOUTING SOUTHERN NAZARENE

The Crimson Storm are coming off two big wins versus Newman University in Wichita, Kan. Southern Nazarene soundly defeated the Jets in game one, 5-1 and battled in games two to win 9-5 in extra innings. 

Southern Nazarene is led by their hot bats, four players are batting .340 or better this season. Liana Heshiki leads the team batting average (.409), OPS (1.165), doubles (9), slugging (.635) and on-base percentage (.529). Hailey Evans leads the team with seven home runs and 59 total bases.
 
The Crimson Storm have two primary pitchers, Janie Worthington and Olivia Hernandez. Worthington and Hernandez each have an ERA of 3.40 or greater, the tow have a combined seven complete game and are a combined 8-5.
 
Southern Nazarene currently sits tied for fourth with Southeastern in the conference standings.

LIVE COVERAGE

To access live stats and additional live coverage of this weekend's games, please visit hsusports.com/coverage.