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ENID, Okla. – After losing their first game of the 2014 Great American Conference Baseball Tournament, the Southern Arkansas baseball team fought their way through the loser's bracket winning four-straight elimination games as they captured their third-consecutive GAC Tournament Championship by beating Arkansas-Monticello by a score of 6-2 on Tuesday afternoon at the David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.
 
Before reaching the tournament final on Tuesday afternoon, the Muleriders (38-17) had to knock off Harding University in the noon game and they did so by beating the Bisons 4-3. In that game, the Muleriders got a great starting pitching performance on short-rest from Dylan Lynn and a tone-setting two-run homerun by Carver Rademacher. Two more needed runs of insurance were tacked on in the seventh for SAU as they were able to withstand three runs by the Bisons late in the game.
 
In the championship final against UAM, the Muleriders started Yumezo Densaki. In two previous starts against the Boll Weevils (36-15), Densaki was 2-0 and had not allowed an earned run while striking out 15 in 14.0 innings of work.
 
On Tuesday afternoon Densaki would run into early trouble as he walked the leadoff batter and hit the next man in the bottom of the first. Densaki would minimize the damage, however, as the Boll Weevils only scored a run in that frame.
 
In the top of the fourth, the Muleriders knotted the game at one-all as All-Tournament selection Zack Costa scored from third base on a balk by UAM starter Kade Garlington. In the bottom of that inning, however, the Boll Weevils regained the lead as Densaki forced in a run on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch. Just like he did in the first inning, however, Densaki limited the damage to that one run.
 
In the top of the sixth, Costa led off with a double to left field. A groundout to second base in the next at-bat moved Costa to third base where he scored in the ensuing at-bat as Josh Rodriguez grounded out to shortstop.
 
An inning later, Rademacher hammered his second homerun of the day as he launched a two-run shot to left field, giving the Muleriders a 4-2 lead. In the eighth, the Muleriders added an insurance run on a throwing error by the Boll Weevils second baseman. In the top of the ninth, Jackson McCurdy provided another run of insurance as he lined a solo homerun down the left field line, making it 6-2 SAU.
 
With a four-run lead now in hand, Densaki returned to the mound for the ninth inning. In that frame, Densaki would retire the side in order as he bookended the inning with strikeouts.
 
As the 2014 GAC Tournament champions, the Muleriders earn the league's first automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. This will mark the Muleriders' seventh-straight appearance in a NCAA Regional Tournament. The Muleriders have also won four-consecutive conference championships and five out of the last six as they won tournament championships in the Gulf South Conference in 2009 and 2011.
 
The Muleriders will now await when and where they will continue their season in the Central Regional Tournament as the NCAA will have their selection show on Sunday, May 11 at 9 p.m. CT.