ENID, Okla. – The top two seeds in the Great American Conference Tournament met on Sunday afternoon in the tourney's first elimination game from David Allen Memorial Ballpark and it was second-seeded Southern Arkansas that avoided being bounced from the action in Enid as the Muleriders produced ten extra-base hits, including a tournament-record six home runs in a 15-6 victory over top-seeded Arkansas-Monticello.
The victory over the Weevils marked the 20
th GAC Tournament victory for the Muleriders (33-17) in the seven-year history of the league; the most by any team. It was also the first time that the top seed has been beaten by the two seed in four such meetings.
All-GAC Honorable Mention pitcher
Jacob Stroder was tasked with limiting one of the league's top offenses in Arkansas-Monticello and he did just that. Stroder's tenth win of the season came after 7.2 innings of work in which he dispersed ten hits. UAM tagged the starter for five runs, but to the credit of Stroder, no free passes were issued by the right-hander, which greatly helped limit the damage done by the Weevil bats.
However, there was no limit to the damage done by the Mulerider offense on Sunday afternoon as SAU banged out 13 hits, which included three doubles, a triple and six home runs. The Muleriders also drew eight base-on-balls and plated six of their 15 runs with two outs. It was the eighth time that Southern Arkansas has plated ten or more runs in a GAC tournament game, and they also matched a program-high for runs in a GAC Tourney game with 15; which they have done twice before.
Redshirt freshman
Cole Boyd doubled to lead-off the top of the second inning and in the process began a tremendous day at the plate as he matched a GAC Single-Game Tournament record for total bases with ten; matching former Mulerider
Trevor Rucker's total in the 2014 league tournament.
With two outs in the frame, sophomore
Austin Baker tripled home true freshman
Riley Orr and redshirt sophomore
Zach Muldoon for Southern Arkansas' first runs of the afternoon. In his next at bat, Boyd led off the visiting half of the fourth with a no-doubt solo shot to left centerfield, his fourth of the season, to cushion the Mulerider lead at 3-0 through four.
The Weevils would answer with a solo home run off of Stroder in the bottom half of the fourth and would add another run via a solo home run in the fifth inning, but not before SAU added three more runs in the fifth. In that inning, seniors
Jake Tisevich and
Cortland McPherson both homered with one out, with the latter's being a two-run shot.
If four runs weren't enough for the backend of Stroder's effort and the Mulerider bullpen, then seven more runs certainly provided enough insurance as the SAU bats plated seven runs on four hits in the sixth inning to take a 13-2 lead into the seventh. Two-run homeruns by Muldoon and Boyd sandwiched a three-run double from the bat of McPherson and highlighted the run-plating effort by the Muleriders in the frame.
Senior
Mark Fontenot launched the sixth and final blast, a towering two-run shot in the eighth inning, out to left centerfield to cap the scoring for Southern Arkansas.
For the second time in as many days, SAU called upon the relief services of
Hunter Lewis and the redshirt freshman left-hander allowed just three hits and a single run as he polished off the final 1.1 innings for the Muleriders in the victory.
Boyd finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and a pair of runs scored and became the fifth player in league tournament history with two home runs in a game. Six Muleriders scored two runs and all nine starters crossed home in the win. Baker, McPherson, Muldoon and junior
Dakota Wright each collected a pair of hits and McPherson led the run-plating efforts as he delivered five RBI.
The Muleriders return to action tomorrow afternoon for a 3:30 p.m. first-pitch with fourth-seeded Henderson State. Live coverage of the Muleriders' postseason run in the GAC Tournament can be found here:
http://greatamericanconference.com/sports/2018/4/24/2018-GAC-BSB-CHAMPIONSHIPS.aspx
