ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — Southern Nazarene dropped the first two games of the series with Henderson State on Saturday 8-3 and 4-3 in the doubleheader at Clyde Berry Field.
The Crimson Storm committed a season-high five errors in the first game of the series as they tallied just four hits in the contest. The Reddies got their bats going in the opener as they racked up 14 hits in the game. Senior
Jefferson Harris took his third loss of the season on the mound for SNU as he gave up five runs, two of those earned, and struck out three in 3.1 innings of action.
Noah Serrano,
Brandon Rezek,
Zach Birkle, and
Triston Graves all came in to pitch in relief for the Storm as the four combined for two strikeouts, while allowing three runs.
Shelby Reese had a solid day at the plate in the opener as he finished 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBI's and a run scored.
Connor Dayton went 1-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored while
Tanner Ladon and
Garrett Perez each tallied a hit in the game for SNU.
Southern Nazarene got off to an ideal start in the series as they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Reese's sacrifice fly scored Perez. The Storm extended their lead in the second when Dayton cranked his first home run of the season to left field to make it 2-0.
Reese's home run in the top of the third gave SNU a 3-0 lead, and then the Reddies' bats woke up. Henderson scored four runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead, and later added another run in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead. After three scoreless innings for both sides, the Reddies pushed three more runs across in the bottom of the eighth to increase their lead to 8-3. SNU was unable to get anything going in the top of the ninth as HSU took game one of the series.
Jackson Berry got the start on the bump in the second game of the doubleheader and the senior gave up three runs, two earned, in 5.2 innings where he struck out three Reddie batters.
Tyler Thompson came on to relieve Berry in the sixth and the junior took his third loss of the season as he gave up one run and one hit in 0.2 innings.
The Storm got a couple of RBI's from junior
Jack Campbell in the nightcap as he finished 1-for-4 with a double.
Emilio Escobedo and
Tanner Ladon each went 1-for-3 at the dish while
Garrett Perez finished 1-for-4 with a run scored.
Joe Toilolo came in to pinch-hit and he drove in a run as well.
Henderson State took an early 1-0 lead with a run scored in the bottom of the first inning. Southern Nazarene responded in the top of the third when Campbell's double scored Lee and Perez to give the Storm a 2-1 lead.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Henderson tacked on one run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game 2-2. The Reddies scored another run in the bottom of the sixth to re-take the lead at 3-2, before Toilolo's single scored
Shelby Reese to nod things up 3-3. Henderson came back to the plate in the bottom of the seventh and got a walk-off single to take the second game of the series.
Southern Nazarene will wrap up the series with Henderson State tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m. in Arkadelphia.
