RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — All it took was a little bit of pain for the Arkansas Tech baseball team to get the good feelings of a win, as back-to-back hitters were hit by pitches with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Wonder Boys to tie the game then walk off with a 6-5 win in the Great American Conference series finale against Henderson State Sunday afternoon at Tech Field.

The Wonder Boys (5-9, 1-5 GAC) picked up their first conference win of the season — and first in four tries against the No. 13 Reddies (8-2, 4-2 GAC) — after giving up the lead in the top of the ninth, as Marcus Wilson and Mark Vaughn singled, followed by a walk after a long at-bat by John Lassiter to load the bases. Kris Ayers was hit with the second pitch he saw to bring Wilson in, and Bryan Heward was plunked on the third pitch to plate Vaughn and set off the celebration.

"That felt good," coach Dave Dawson said. "Things haven't really been going our way to this point. We've have to fight and try to get it done, and the guys have done a good job. We've had to fix a couple things, but I thought we played well today. I thought we played pretty decent throughout, but things just weren't quite going our way. Hopefully this is our turning point for us."

The game flew through its first four-plus innings, as both starters, with the benefit of a strong wind blowing in from centerfield, were dealing. Tech's Trent Armstrong breezed through his first five innings of work, allowing five hits and an intentional walk, but stranding all six runners.

His offense staked him to a lead in the bottom of the fifth, as Patrick Castleberry opened the frame with a single to left and was pushed over to second on a Keenan Jumper sacrifice bunt. Rafiel Johnson smacked a single back up the middle to score Castleberry, and wound up coming around to score when the ball scooted past the Henderson centerfielder.

Armstrong ran into some trouble in the next inning, as the first four batters reached, allowing the Reddies to tie it up at 2-2, and the visitors took their first lead of the game in the seventh on an RBI single to make it 3-2.

The Wonder Boys offense once again got going with two out in the bottom of the eighth, starting with a double to the left-center gap by Heward, which plated Caleb McKinnon to draw even. Castleberry then drew a walk, followed by Jumper's looping double down the left field line that allowed Heward to scamper home and make it 4-3.

A leadoff walk from Henderson started things off in the top of the ninth before Randy Vallejo came in to record two quick outs for the hosts. The walk came around to score on a single and tie the game for a third time on the afternoon, before a Tech error kept the inning alive and pushed the Reddies into the lead one more time. Vallejo limited the damage by striking out the final batter of the frame, which allowed for the ninth-inning heroics for the Wonder Boys.

Vallejo earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the season, while Nate Rutherford produced two more quality innings of work, giving up two hits and a walk while striking out two, and Bryson Morris picked up a big out in the sixth to stop the damage. Vaughn went 2-for-4 with a run, with Heward adding a hit, two RBIs and a run. Jumper and Johnson each added a base knock and RBI.

The Wonder Boys are back in action this weekend, heading to Bethany, Oklahoma for a three-game GAC series against Southern Nazarene, with a  single game scheduled Friday and a doubleheader Saturday.