ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The No. 5-seed Southern Arkansas baseball team lost to No. 4-seed Henderson State by a score of 6-2 in the opening game of a best-of-three series on Friday night at Clyde Berry Field in Arkadelphia.
Friday's opening game of the series also marked the beginning the 2016 Great American Conference Tournament as the top-four seeds are hosting the lower-four seeds with the winners of each series advancing the "tournament" portion next weekend at Clyde Berry Field.
In the game against Henderson, the Muleriders (30-19) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Keaton Miller. The Reddies (28-23), however, answered right back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame to grab a 2-1 lead.
Henderson matched those two runs scored in the first inning with two more runs in the bottom of the second inning as the Reddies led 4-1 through two innings of play.
Single runs in the fourth and sixth innings for Henderson extended their lead to 6-1.
Trevor Rucker drove in a run for the Muleriders in the top of the seventh to make it a 6-2 game, but that ended up being the final as the Reddies relievers were able to close out the game.
The Muleriders will now need to beat Henderson twice on Saturday to advance to the "tournament" portion of the GAC Baseball Tournament. First-pitch for the first game is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the "IF" game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start time.
