SHREVEPORT, La. – The Southern Arkansas baseball team picked up a 10-1 win on the road against NAIA nationally-ranked No. 11 LSU-Shreveport on Tuesday night at Pilots Field.
 
In the win, the NCAA nationally-ranked No. 14 Muleriders (3-2) received a solid starting pitching performance from Eric Schildt. In his second start of the season, Schildt was in command early, worked quickly and kept the potentially-potent lineup of the Pilots (2-2) at bay.
 
In fact, Schildt would not allow a base hit until the top of the fourth inning. That initial hit did also score the one and only run for the Pilots in the game as a hit-by-pitch and fielder's choice throwing error preceded the RBI base knock. As alluded to, however, Schildt would escape the inning without further damage.
 
That run for the Pilots at the time made it a 4-1 game in favor of SAU. Those four runs prior the Pilots reaching the scoreboard came home in the top half of the third inning.
 
In that frame, the Muleriders got a leadoff single to right-centerfield from Michael Page. A pair of strikeouts followed, but amongst the Ks, Page was able to advance to third on two wild pitches. With Page at third and two away, the Muleriders' David LaFleur would drive him in on a double to right-centerfield.
 
A wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat advanced LaFleur to third. A full-count walk to Billy Germaine put runners on the corners and a hit-by-pitch to Justin Buchanan loaded the bases for Zach Silvers. After fouling off the first pitch, Silvers would clear the bases on a double to left field, but the inning would end there as Silvers was thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.
 
The Muleriders would tack on a pair of runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to add insurance for Schildt, who would go on to pitch seven complete innings. In that time, Schildt would only allow two hits, one walk, and an unearned run while striking out two.
 
Once Schildt's night was through, George Eubanks and Jordan Jackson would come on out of the bullpen to make their season debuts on the mound. Eubanks and Jackson would combine to throw two scoreless innings with a pair of hits given up and a pair of strikeouts.
 
The Muleriders will now turn their attention towards the coming weekend as they will host four other teams in the SAU Baseball Invitational at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. The invitational will span Friday-Saturday-Sunday with the Muleriders playing four games over that stretch.
 
The first two of those will be played on Friday, February 12 as SAU will take on the University of Central Missouri at 3 p.m. and then Oklahoma Christian at 6 p.m.