MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The bats for the Southern Arkansas baseball team remained hot despite a cold afternoon at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field as the Muleriders cranked out double-digit hits for the second-straight game en route to picking up an 8-4 win over Lincoln University in non-conference action.
 
Setting the table all afternoon and accounting for half of the Muleriders' (8-5) 12 total hits were leadoff batter Chase Harvey, and two-hole hitter Trevor Rucker, as each totaled three hits. Byron Reichstein, who came on as a substitution in the second inning, would also notch multiple hits as he went 2-for-3.
 
The scoring started for the Muleriders in the bottom of the first inning when Harvey led off with a double into centerfield. Rucker then reached base on a throwing error by the Blue Tigers' (0-3) third baseman. Two batters later, Harvey was cut down at home on a fielder's choice off the bat of Billy Germaine, but a RBI double down the right field line off the bat of Trevor Ward plated the first two runs for SAU. Chris Quinn then doubled down the opposite line in the ensuing at-bat to score Ward and put the Muleriders up 3-0 through one inning of play.
 
The score would remain 3-0 until the fourth when the Muleriders plated three more runs off of four hits in the frame to take a 6-0 lead. All three of those runs came with two outs in the inning and two of the RBI hits went through the left side, while the third went through the right side of the infield. Harvey, Rucker, and Korey Keith were each responsible for RBIs in the inning.
 
In the next half inning, Lincoln got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs, but both were unearned and came without the benefit of a hit.
 
SAU would push across single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to account for their eight runs in the game. In the fifth, SAU scored on a RBI triple to right-centerfield by Reichstein, while the run in the sixth came on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Keith.
 
In the top of the seventh, Lincoln plated two more runs off of two hits and the benefit of a Mulerider error to make it 8-4, but consecutive perfect innings by a pair of SAU relievers in the eighth and ninth shut the door on the game; giving SAU the 8-4 win.
 
SAU starter Landon Simpson would pick up the win, his first as a Mulerider, after he completed a pre-determined start of four innings. In that time, Simpson would not allow a hit while facing 14 batters. After Simpson's four innings of work, SAU turned the ball over to five relievers, with each pitching one complete inning. Kenneth Tabor and Jared Webb each struck out the side in their time on the mound while Jace Powers and Travis Johnson were perfect in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
 
The Muleriders will now prepare to hit the road for their first Great American Conference series of the year at Southern Nazarene. The three-game set is scheduled to begin on Friday, February 20 at 2 p.m. in Bethany, Okla. Games two and three are scheduled to be played as a doubleheader the following day starting at Noon.