GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Southern Arkansas baseball team picked a 7-1 win over East Central in their first game of the day on Saturday and then followed it up with a 4-3 win over Washburn in the nightcap as the Muleriders closed out their own DII Classic which was held at the Ballpark at Grand Prairie over the last two days.
In their win over East Central, the Muleriders (2-2) received a solid starting pitching performance from
Kenneth Tabor, who was making his first collegiate start. In that start, Tabor, a sophomore from Plano, Texas, would work six innings and strike out eight while scattering three hits.
Offensively in that game, the Muleriders supported Tabor with seven runs over the first three innings as SAU took control early. Five of those runs were scored in the first inning as the Muleriders jumped on the Tigers' (0-4) starter, Shae Edmonds.
In that inning,
Billy Germaine,
Austin Bishoff, and
Justin Buchanan, each picked up RBIs while
Byron Brooks drove in a pair of runs to cap that frame.
Michael Page and
David LaFleur accounted for the other two runs for SAU with RBIs in the third inning.
Once Tabor's outing was over, redshirt freshman pitcher
Jake Alexander made his collegiate debut and the Ashdown, Ark. native would pitch the final three innings to earn a three-inning save. In his time on the mound, Alexander would strikeout five and allowed one earned run.
In SAU's nightcap, the Muleriders would fall behind early and see their starter get chased before finishing the first inning as Washburn scored a pair of runs thanks in part to a hit-by-pitch and four consecutive walks, all with two outs.
With their starter being taken out after 2/3 of an inning, the Muleriders turned to junior transfer
Dalton Algiene out of the bullpen. Algiene would answer the call in a major way as he settled the game down and pitched through the seventh inning while allowing only one run in that time.
As Algiene was settling into his outing, the Muleriders would take advantage and broke through in the fourth with three runs to take a 3-2 lead. The first two of those runs came home on a two-RBI double by
Keaton Miller and the third run was plated on a single by Brooks, scoring Miller.
In the next half inning, the Ichabods (2-2) would tie the game up at three-all on a sacrifice fly.
The next two and a half innings would remain scoreless until the Muleriders' got a clutch RBI base hit from
Zach Silvers as he singled up the middle to score
Justin Buchanan, who tripled to left field the at-bat prior.
Now staked to a one-run lead, SAU's
Jared Fielden, who took over for Algiene in the eighth, would come back out to the mound in the ninth inning and the senior shut the door on the Ichabods as he K'd the side to preserve the win for the Muleriders.
The Muleriders will now prepare for a road non-conference clash with NAIA-perennial power LSU-Shreveport on Tuesday evening. First-pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
