ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Harding junior Michael Dewald singled to center with two outs in the eighth inning to break a tie and give the Bisons a 2-1 victory over Henderson State on Monday in Great American Conference play at Clyde Berry Field.

The Harding victory snapped Henderson State's 21-game home winning streak. The Reddies won their first 15 home games this season prior to Monday's loss.

Harding snapped a six-game skid of its own and improved to 11-9 overall and 5-7 in conference games. Henderson State, ranked 16th nationally, dropped to 17-3 overall and 9-3 in the GAC.

Harding's last win over a team ranked as high as Henderson State came in 2019 when the Bisons won 5-1 over 13th-ranked Southern Arkansas in Magnolia.

Sophomore Maddox Long was solid on the mound for the Bisons, becoming the first Harding pitcher this season to go eight innings. He allowed only a solo home run and struck out four.

Harding plays again Wednesday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Williams Baptist at Jerry Moore Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Neither team scored in the first five innings before a solo home run put Henderson State up 1-0 after six innings.

Harding knotted the game at 1-1 in the seventh. Brendan Perrett walked with one out, stole second and scored on Owen Martin's two-out double to left.

In the eighth, David Butterfield walked with two outs and went to second on a wild pitch. Dewald laced a single to center to score Butterfield with the winning run.

Freshman Kyle Lane relieved Long to pitch the ninth. He struck out the first two batters he faced and induced a fly out for the final out of the game and his first collegiate save.

GAME NOTES

·         Martin had two of Harding's four hits, his third multi-hit game of the season … Dewald and Drew McNeel had Harding's other two hits.

·         Dewald extended his hitting streak to eight games and his on-base streak to 10 games.

·         Cody Smith was hit by a pitch to extend his on-base streak to 16 games.

·         Long has allowed exactly one earned run in five of his six starts.

·         Lane has eight strikeouts and no walks and only two hits allowed in his 5.1 innings of work this season.

·         Henderson State had won the last seven meetings between the teams in Arkadelphia … Harding's last win at Clyde Berry Field came in 2016.

·         Harding pitchers limited Henderson State to 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.