Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – A day after taking the opening game of the series, the No.4-ranked Southern Arkansas baseball team secured a series-win after winning the front half of Saturday's doubleheader against Southwestern Oklahoma by a score of 14-7. The sweep would not follow, however, as SWOSU defeated SAU, 9-8, on a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth.
 
In the opener, the Muleriders (8-2, 2-1 GAC) jumped out to an 8-0 lead through their first three at-bats as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the second and added six more runs in the top of the third. In the two-run second inning, the Muleriders got RBIs from Preston Gray and Chase Harvey. Gray would then double in another run in the next inning as he was one of four Muleriders to pick up an RBI in the frame.
 
After that big top of the third inning for the Muleriders, the Bulldogs (3-4, 1-2) answered back with a three-spot in the bottom of the frame. Consecutive RBI doubles plated the first two runs and a RBI single to centerfield accounted for the third run. All three of those runs came against SAU starter Timothy Buchanan.    
 
Buchanan, the reigning GAC and NCBWA Central Region Pitcher of the Week, would bounce back and settle in after that inning as he allowed just two hits and one more run over his last four innings on the mound. All told, Buchanan (3-0) would work seven innings, allow seven hits, four earned runs, walk one, and strike out six.
 
As Buchanan was settling back in to his start, his offense gave him six more runs of support over the next five innings as he exited the game with the Muleriders up 14-4.
 
With Buchanan now out of the game, the Bulldogs would take advantage of three free passes and a pair of wild pitches as they scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 14-7 game.
 
SAU reliever Jared Webb, who came on in relief of reliever Trey Jameson with no outs in the eighth, would work out of the inning and then came back out and kept the Bulldogs off the board in the ninth to secure the win for the Muleriders.
 
In the scheduled seven-inning nightcap of the doubleheader, the Muleriders once more jumped out ahead, this time it was a 3-0 lead through their first two at-bats. That lead would not last long, however, as the Bulldogs, looking to stave off the sweep, scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 6-3 lead. The Bulldogs would then make it a 7-3 lead as they scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
 
In the next half inning, however, the Muleriders scored four runs on six hits to knot the game at seven-all. That inning started with a bang as Gray belted a two-run homerun, scoring Justin Buchanan, who led off with a single. Two batters later, William Townsend tripled home Chase Harvey, who singled up the middle in the previous at-bat. Townsend then came home for the fourth run of the inning as Tyler Cameron singled to centerfield.
 
An inning later, the Muleriders took a one-run lead, 8-7, as Trevor Rucker's triple to right-centerfield scored Gray, who was hit by a pitch in the previous at-bat.
 
Looking to close out the series sweep for the Muleriders, Gray took over on the mound in the bottom of the seventh. In that inning, however, the Bulldogs would force an extra inning as they picked up consecutive one-out singles to set up the game-tying sacrifice fly that Jiro Morales would hit into.
 
In the top of the eighth, the Muleriders were retired in order, allowing the Bulldogs to possibly walk-off with a win in the bottom of the frame. With Gray still on the mound, the Bulldogs put a runner in scoring position as JR Head doubled to centerfield with one out in the inning. A batter, later, Head came around to score the winning run as Brandon Ruiz singled to center.
 
The Muleriders will now get ready for a mid-week non-conference game against NAIA-power LSU-Shreveport. That game is to be played on Tuesday, February 18 with a first-pitch time of 6 p.m. in Shreveport.