Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas and Delta State renewed their storied baseball rivalry on Saturday evening as the two top-10 nationally-ranked teams split a doubleheader at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
 
It was the Muleriders (30-12) who, thanks in part, to four homeruns, would take the opener by a score of 9-3. The Statesmen (27-8), however, rebounded with a 9-1 win in the nightcap to force the doubleheader split.
 
In the opener, the Muleriders would get a clean top of the first inning from starter Dylan Lynn, and then in the bottom of the frame, on the first pitch he saw, Tyler Cameron gave Lynn (8-1) an early lead as he belted a leadoff homerun to left field.
 
The Statesmen would get on the board and subsequently take a one-run lead as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the third. In the bottom of that frame, however, Cameron would single to left field with one out. With Cameron on first, the Muleriders powered back on top, 3-2, as Trevor Rucker smashed a two-run homerun out to left field.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Rucker would leave the yard once more, this time for a solo shot as he extended the Muleriders' lead to two runs, 4-2. Later that inning, Telvin Darden would single through the left side, scoring Jon Phillips, and giving SAU a three-run lead, 5-2.
 
The Statesmen, on a solo homerun by Landon Thibodeaux, would get one of those runs back, but in the bottom of the sixth, William Townsend got in on the homerun frenzy as he parked his first career homerun out to left field.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, the Muleriders would add three more runs of insurance as they took a 9-3 lead into the top of the ninth. Two of those three runs came home on a double to left-centerfield off the bat of Rucker; his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game. The other run scored on a RBI single to right field by Carver Rademacher.
 
With the six-run lead, Jared Webb would come on in relief of Lynn to start the top of the ninth inning. Webb would work a perfect ninth inning to end the game and secure Lynn's eighth win of the season. The final line on Lynn would read eight innings pitched, three earned runs allowed, six walks issued, and six strikeouts.
 
The second game of the twin-bill would start off just as it did in the first game, a scoreless top of the first inning and then a first-pitch leadoff homerun in the bottom half by Cameron staked SAU to an early 1-0 lead. The Statesmen, however, behind a good starting pitching performance from their starter Jonathan Moody, would limit the Mulerider offense to that one run.
 
With Moody settling in after the leadoff homerun, the Statesmen would get him the only run support he would need and then some in the top of the fourth as they scored eight runs that inning. Seven of the runs would be charged against SAU starter Timothy Buchanan, but only one would be earned as an error started the fourth inning. The Statesmen would add another run in the top of the sixth to push the game to its eventual final of 9-1.
 
The rubber-game of this series will be played on Sunday, April 13 with a scheduled first-pitch of Noon.