SOUTHERN ARKANSAS MULERIDERS 20-11, 9-6 GAC	HARDING BISONS 15-14, 7-5 GAC
Friday, March 27 | 6 p.m. - Saturday, March 28 | DH | 2 p.m. Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field | Magnolia, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO

 

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GAME NOTES | SAU | HU

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Leading Off
The Southern Arkansas baseball team enters play this weekend with an 20-11 overall record and are 9-6 in the GAC. The Muleriders are coming off of a 2-1 series loss to Henderson State over the last weekend, but SAU bounced back to take the mid-week game from the Reddies to bring the season-series to 2-2. In the weekend conference
series, the Muleriders dropped the first two games in extra innings to the Reddies, but received a solid pitching performance from Colton Strother as SAU salvaged a
game in the series.

The Harding baseball team enters play this weekend with a 15-14 overall record and a 7-5 mark in the GAC. This past weekend, the Bisons took the first two games of the series against East Central before the final game was canceled. HU also split a mid-week doubleheader with Arkansas-Fort Smith. 

Statistically, the Muleriders are hitting .291 as a team and have six starters hitting .300 or better. Chase Harvey currently leads the team in average at .320 (40-for-125). Billy Germaine leads the team in RBIs with 28 and homeruns with five. Jon Phillips leads in doubles with 13.

In terms of pitching, SAU has a 3.19 team ERA and their three conference starters have ERAs in under 3.30. Preston Gray, Landon Simpson, and Hunter Mayo lead the staff in wins with four each. Simpson also has the lowest ERA at 2.01. Among relievers, Travis Johnson sports the lowest ERA at 1.31. In 20.2 innings pitched, Johnson is limiting opponents to a .214 batting average against.

For HU, they hit .259 as a team and have two players over .300. Harrison Hunter leads the team in hitting at .330 (29-for-88). Zac Stewart is the leading RBI man for Harding with 19 on the season and Davis Richardson currently leads in homeruns with four. In terms of pitching, HSU has a 4.09 team ERA. Collin Campbell leads the team in wins with four and has the lowest ERA among starters at 3.27.

Preseason Favorites
For the fourth-straight year, the Southern Arkansas baseball team has been picked by the head coaches of the Great American Conference to finish the season as the top team in the league. The top-nod comes on the heels of the Muleriders' thrid-consecutive GAC Tournament Championship and also in the return of six All-GAC players from last year's team.

Reichstein Walks-Off OBU
Junior outfielder Byron Reichstein ended one of the wildest games of the season for the Muleriders this past Tuesday (3-17) against Ouachita Baptist as he hit a walk-off homerun the opposite way down the left field line. The homerun was the first this season for Reichstein.

Backend Bullpen Strength
The Muleriders have received some strong outings out of the backend of their bullpen and in particualr from junior transfer Travis Johnson. On the year, Johnson has appeared in 13 games, is 2-2 with four saves, has a 1.31 ERA, and is limiting opponents to a .214 batting average with 11 punchouts in 20.2 innings pitched.

A"Ward" Winning Debut
True freshman Trevor Ward made his collegiate debut for SAU against Lincoln on Feb. 14. In his debut, Ward would get hits in each of his first three at-bats and was inches away from hitting for the cycle as well in his last at-bat after Lincoln's right fielder made a diving catch on a would-be double.

Simpson National POW
Southern Arkansas junior right-hander Landon Simpson was named as the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) National Pitcher of the Week (3-16) as it was announced by the NCBWA. The national honor for Simpson is the first in his career and comes as a result of his most dominant start of the season so far after he tossed a four-hit shutout while striking out a season-high 10 batters in game two of the series against Ouachita Baptist, an 8-0 SAU win. The shutout against OBU was Simpson's second this season and at the time lowered his season ERA to 1.89. Simpson currently ranks second in the league in ERA and has current ERA of 2.01

Germiane GAC POW
SAU junior tranfer Billy Germaine was named GAC Player of the Week (2-24) after a monster week at the plate. In each game against SNU, Germaine would record multiple hits, culminating with an impressive 5-for-5 (all singles) effort in the series finale. Additionally, Germaine scored multiple runs in each game while also registering at least one RBI per contest. All told for the week, Germaine would go 9-for-13 with eight runs scored, one double, two homeruns, and six RBIs