ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — The Henderson State baseball team will play for the program's second Great American Conference championship this weekend in Searcy, Arkansas when the Reddies take on No. 4 seed Harding in a best-of-three series for the GAC crown on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, if necessary.
HSU won its pod last weekend in Enid, Oklahoma, by defeating Arkansas-Monticello twice and also Southern Arkansas. All three games came down to the very end, with clutch hitting and a dominant bullpen leading the Reddies to victory.
The bullpen was the story of the weekend;
Mitchell Szczygiel earned wins in back-to-back games, with two innings of one hit ball against Southern Arkansas and one inning in the pod clinching game against UAM.
Tyler Bates earned a save and a hold on the weekend, and
Payton Byrd earned the win in the opening round.
Dawson Goines went four innings in the tournament, including a scoreless seventh inning in the final game against Monticello.
Nate Moore was the offensive spark for the Reddies with seven hits in the tournament. The junior from Texarkana, Texas drove in a run and scored four of his own. He was part of a bottom third of the Reddies' order that sparked the offense, with
Cal Jones and
Louis Holt setting the table for the top of the order to come through, particularly in the later innings of games.
Arguably, the hit of the weekend belonged to
Luke Farrar, who hit a two run home run in the seventh inning of the third game to give HSU the lead they had been chasing all night. The All-GAC First Team selection took a 2-0 pitch from UAM's Nelson Mercado to deep left-center field and out of David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The home run gave the Reddies the four run lead they never surrendered.
The opponent for this weekend is the No. 4 seed Harding Bisons. Harding, like Henderson State, won all three games of their pod in Enid and look to ride that winning streak into the matchup with the Reddies this weekend; they will look to do so at their home field, where they are 23-7 on the season. However, two of those seven losses at home came to the Reddies, as HSU took two of their three game series in Searcy back in March.
All three games in Searcy are free to attend; find out more information
here.
Team Previews
Henderson State Reddies: 31-20, 20-13 GAC
Coach:
Cody Hooten (15th season)
Team Statistical Leaders:
AVG:
Alex Galvan (.375)
H:
Luke Farrar (66)
HR:
Jeremy Schork (16)
RBI: Schork and Farrar (56)
Probable Pitching Rotation:
Gm 1:
Ethan Roark (1-1, 3.93 ERA)
Gm 2:
Cole Rodriguez (5-2, 5.48 ERA)
Gm 3:
Reese Weaks (4-4, 7.10 ERA)
Harding Bisons: 37-16, 21-12 GAC
Coach: Patrick McGaha (20th season)
Team Statistical Leaders:
AVG: Nathan Bowie (.360)
H:Bowie (73)
HR:Logan Lacey (15)
RBI: Lacey (54)
Probable Pitching Rotation:
Gm 1: Maddox Long (11-3, 1.57 ERA)
Gm 2: Preston Tabor (6-4, 5.31 ERA)
Gm 3: Merritt Jay (7-4, 5.71 ERA)
