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MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Sophomore left-handed pitcher Timothy Buchanan made Southern Arkansas baseball history on Saturday afternoon as he threw a seven-inning no-hitter against Southern Nazarene in the opening game of the day's doubleheader, a 12-0 SAU win.
 
Buchanan's no-hitter is the fifth in SAU baseball history, and it is the first no-no since former All-America pitcher Hayden Simpson threw one against Culver-Stockton back in late February of 2009.
 
Saturday's opening game was originally scheduled to go nine innings, but an offensive explosion by the Muleriders (32-14, 17-10 GAC) over the first two innings shortened the game to a seven-inning contest.
 
In the bottom of the first inning, the Muleriders gave Buchanan (6-3) all the run-support he needed and then some as they scored seven runs in the frame. An inning later, the Muleriders added three more runs to make it a 10-0 game. Two more runs would follow in the bottom of the sixth, bringing the game to its eventual final of 12-0.
 
Once staked to that early lead, Buchanan literally became un-hittable as he dominated the Crimson Storm (16-29, 5-25 GAC) lineup. In five of the seven innings pitched, Buchanan would strike out at least two batters as he would go on to tie his career-high for strikeouts in a game with 12. Three of those strikeouts came in the final inning as he made quick work of three consecutive SNU pinch hitters.
 
The lone blemishes on Buchanan's final line were a first inning walk, a fourth inning hit-by-pitch, and fielding error behind him in the sixth.
 
In a special side note to the no-hitter, Timothy's identical twin brother Justin Buchanan was behind the plate for this game. In their two years on the Mulerider baseball team, the Buchanan brothers have been starting battery mates 10 times. In those games, Timothy is 7-1.
 
Unfortunately, the Crimson Storm would rebound quickly from being no-hit as they notched a single in their first at-bat of the second game. The Crimson Storm would later go on to come-from-behind to hand the Muleriders a tough 7-5 loss.
 
The Muleriders will now get ready for their final regular season game at home as they will play a non-conference game against Harding University on Tuesday, April 22 starting at 3 p.m.