ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — An early lead could not hold up for Henderson State on Sunday as Southern Arkansas scored five runs in the seventh and eighth innings to defeat the Reddies 7-4 at Clyde Berry Field in the series finale.

Jaxson Gregg finished 3-for-5 with a double to lead HSU at the plate. Six different Reddie arms saw action in the loss and limited the Muleriders to just seven hits on the day.

Henderson (18-15, 12-9) went in front 2-0 in the second when Austin Scritchfield scored on a throwing error and Luke Farrar grounded into a double play to plate a run with the bases loaded. SAU (21-12, 14-7)  tied the game in the third, but the Reddies retook the lead in the fifth on an RBI fielder's choice from Alex Galvan. 

The Muleriders flipped the game on its head in the seventh when a leadoff single and a walk were followed by home run from Grant Roosma that put Southern Arkansas in front 5-3.

The Reddies loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the inning, and cut into the lead with an RBI on a sacrifice fly from Nate Moore, but a groundout ended the threat and left Henderson trailing 5-4.

A two-out rally in the eighth added to the SAU lead, as they took advantage of a walk and back-to-back hit batters to load the bases. A single from Roosma on the next at-bat scored two runs and made it 7-4.

HSU tried to rally in the ninth by putting two runners on with no outs to bring the tying run to the plate, but a pop out, a ground out and strikeout slammed the door for Southern Arkansas.

Stranded runners came back to haunt the Reddies, who left 14 on compared to just six for the Muleriders. HSU had the bases loaded with less than two outs in the second, fifth and seventh innings, but came away with only a single run in each situation.

Henderson returns to action on Tuesday at 3 p.m. when it hosts No.14 Delta State at Clyde Berry Field.