Southern Arkansas claimed a share of Great American Conference regular season title Saturday and will be the No. 2 seed in this weekend’s GAC Tournament. It was SAU’s first league title since 2017 and fifth overall.
The Muleriders (27-13, 23-10 GAC) will host No. 7 seed Henderson State (23-17, 18-15 GAC) in the opening round on Friday, at 6 p.m., from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
It will be the sixth meeting of the season between the two teams with the Muleriders having won three of the previous matchups.
Over the weekend, SAU and Northwestern Oklahoma State closed out the regular season with a bang as the GAC foes combined for 37 runs on 45 hits in the series finale which saw the Rangers edge the Muleriders behind a five-run eighth inning on Saturday afternoon.
In 25 innings, a collective 72 runs crossed home on 96 hits which included 28 home runs and 19 additional extra base hits.
Highlighting Saturday’s offensive output for SAU, which saw all nine players in the starting lineup record a hit, seven of the nine score a run and six of the nine register an RBI, was senior Austin Baker who finished a single shy of the cycle after a 5-for-6 performance that resulted in two doubles, a triple and two home runs with five runs scored and six RBI.
In softball, the SAU Lady Mulerider softball team closed its regular season last weekend with an 11-3 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma, extending its winning streak to six games as they enter this weekend’s GAC Tournament as the top seed. The event will be played at the Bentonville Softball Complex.
In the first round on Friday, they will face Arkansas-Monticello.
Last Saturday, the Lady Muleriders started the scoring off in the first inning by pushing across five runs. A bases loaded walk and an infield single by senior Christina Hill accounted for the first two runs.
A Makana Morton RBI single drove in a pair of runs and a Maeson Grace RBI single put the score at 5-0 as the Lady Muleriders batted around their lineup in the first frame.
Elisa Favela would match Morton with a two-RBI single of her own an inning later to make it 7-0; two runs in the fourth and a run in the fifth inning by the Lady Bulldogs would make the score 7-3.
The Lady Muleriders closed affairs with four runs in the final frame, with an RBI double from Grace and a 2-RBI double from leadoff hitter Alese Casper.
Next batter Jaxynn Dyson would drive in the final run on an RBI single.
Victoria Taylor started the game in the circle, striking out five in 3.1 innings; she was relieved by Landry Newgent, who picked up her first win as a Mulerider, pitching 2.2 innings in relief, striking out two.
Favela closed out the game, striking out two in her one inning of work.
In tennis, SAU saw its season come to an end on last Saturday afternoon as the top-seeded Muleriders fell to (2) Northwest Missouri 4-2 in the Central Region Final from Edmond Center Court.
The Muleriders’ 2021 campaign concludes at 13-6 overall and as the #17 ranked team in the country; the highest national ranking for the program in its young NCAA Era.
Southern Arkansas dropped the doubles point as the No. 14-ranked pair of Franco Oliva and Andrea Zamurri defeated the No. 9-ranked duo of Sander Jans and Sofiane Bah 6-4, before Ole Valkyser and Gabriel Breitenmoser suffered a 6-3 loss to Agustin Velasco and Fabien Calloud to give the Bearcats a 1-0 lead.
The Northwest Missouri lead increased to 2-0 with a win at No. 2, but the Muleriders found the scoreboard as No. 11 Jans dismissed No. 3 Andrea Zamurri 6-2, 6-2. SAU lost at line No. 3, but saw Valkyser win at No. 4 with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 showing against the Bearcats’ Fillipo Piranomote. With NWMSU leading 3-2, Southern Arkansas needed to claim the final two singles lines to advance to the national tournament, but were edged at No. 5 as Bah came up just short in a hard fought 6-4, 1-6, 4-6 match to Martin Sanchez.
Of SAU’s 19 matches played this spring, a dozen saw the Muleriders compete against teams that earned berths into the NCAA postseason.
Seven of those matches came against Harding, Northwest Missouri and Washburn; all of which spent time nationally ranked or receiving votes this season.
Southern Arkansas opened the season with a 6-1 win over Southwest Baptist on January 29 and then claimed a 4-2 victory against SBU on March 5. The Bearcats are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region.
Delta State, the No. 4 seed in the South Region, edged SAU 4-3 on January 31. Moreso, the Muleriders matched up with Cameron, the South Central Region’s No. 1 seed, and Midwestern State, the South Central Region’s No. 2 seed on the same day in early March.