Alva Review-Courier -

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – SWOSU Baseball fell victim to the Great American Conference Pitcher of the Year on Friday night, losing 2-0 to Henderson State in the opening game of the best-of-three postseason series.

It was a pitching duel all night, as both starters Jeremy Smith and Bryant Haralson each threw 8.0 innings and struck out 11 hitters in their outings. It was Haralson who received two runs of support however, which proved to be the difference in the contest.

Henderson State scored one run in the second and one run in the third to complete their scoring efforts. Between those second and third innings, the Reddies tallied five of their seven hits in the contest and were able to plate enough runs to give them the victory.

After the shaky pair of innings, Smith settled down to throw scoreless baseball the rest of the game.

SWOSU's offense spread out four total hits in the game and only produced one extra-base hit on the night. That extra-base knock - a leadoff double by Ted Wisdom to start the eighth inning - was the best chance at scratching across a run the Bulldogs had all night, but a two-out strikeout ended the threat and stranded Wisdom at third to keep SWOSU scoreless late in the game.

HSU brought in their closer for the ninth and despite a pair of barreled balls, the Dawgs would go quietly in three-up-three-down fashion to end game one.