MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After a 3-1 weekend that resulted in several key in-region victories at the SAU Baseball Invitational, the Southern Arkansas Mulerider Baseball team will welcome in another in-region opponent in Mississippi College of the Gulf South Conference for a nine-inning tilt on Tuesday afternoon at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
The Muleriders (6-3) picked up wins over Central Missouri, Oklahoma Christian and Central Oklahoma last weekend, before suffering a loss to Washburn on Sunday. Tuesday's game will be a tune-up for Southern Arkansas which opens Great American Conference play this weekend in Shawnee, Oklahoma, with a three-game set against Oklahoma Baptist. The Muleriders and Bison are currently the only two teams above .500 and with six wins in the GAC.
SAU has four position players that have played and started in all nine games so far this season. Two of those players in
Zach Silvers and
Michael Page own .315 averages or batter, while a trio of other players boast batting averages of .350 or higher led by
Jake Tisevich's .440 in seven games started. Page leads the team in hits with a dozen, while Silvers and Tisevich have 11 hits apiece.
The reigning
Great American Conference Player of the Week for his five-game performance last week,
Trevor Rucker leads SAU in doubles with three and is tied for the team lead in on-base percentage at .517. Rucker is one of three everyday position players back from last year's campaign joining
Justin Buchanan and
Billy Germaine.
As a team, SAU has drawn 31 walks and been hit-by-pitch 16 times. The team is hitting .279 and has scored 54 runs, averaging six runs a ballgame.
On the mound, the Muleriders have received quality outings from a handful of young arms, beginning with sophomore starter
Kenneth Tabor, who is 2-0 on the young season with a 0.75 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 12.0 innings pitched. Eric Shildt picked up a win in a strong outing at Louisiana-Shreveport last Tuesday, while relievers
Jared Fielden and
Makenzy Larsen each account for a win for SAU as they have fired a collective eight innings of three-hit baseball. Four redshirt freshmen have provided added depth to an already deep bullpen for the Muleriders.
As a staff, Southern Arkansas has a 3.15 ERA in 80.0 innings pitched with 71 strikeouts and an opponent's batting average of .210. The bullpen has been strong as SAU is an early 4-0 when leading after seven innings.
For complete up-to-date individual and team statistics for Southern Arkansas Baseball, follow this link:
http://muleriderathletics.com/custompages/Current%20Statistics/baseball/teamcume.htm.
Mississippi College enters Tuesday's game
at 5-1 with a pair of weekend series wins to being the year. The Choctaws will enter GSC play this weekend as they host West Florida. "
Tuesday marks the first meeting between the two schools since 1996, when SAU claimed a three-game series in Magnolia."
Six players lead the offensive charge for the Choctaws
in their first-year back to the ranks of Division II, as all six have posted .300 or better averages through six games, including a pair of players with a .500 average in Hunter Bolin and Logan Ferrell. Bolin leads the team with a dozen hits and Ferrell is second with 10 hits, while owning a team-best 11 runs scored. Ferrell also paces MC in slugging percentage at .650 and on-base percentage at .583. Blaine Crim is hitting .400 for Mississippi College and follows Bolin and Ferrell with eight hits. The Choctaws are currently hitting .331 as a team with 59 hits and 49 runs scored and are 15-of-18 in stolen bases.
Crim also gets it done on the mound as he is one of two Choctaw pitchers with a 2-0 record, while owning a 2.31 ERA with 11 strikeouts in 11.2 innings pitched. Jake Fraze leads the staff in innings (14.2), ERA (1.23) and opponent batting average (.208) for pitchers that have started at least one game.
Mississippi College has a staff ERA of 2.94 in 49.0 innings of work with a collective 43 strikeouts and 19 walks. So far they have allowed opponents to hit just .242. For complete statistics for Mississippi College, follow this link:
http://www.gochoctaws.com/cumestats.aspx?path=baseball&.
Live stats for Tuesday's game will be available here:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/baseball/, while live video coverage is available here:
https://livestream.com/accounts/10140781. Jeff Harrington will have the call from Goodheart Field.
Be sure to visit muleriderathletics.com for pregame and postgame recaps, coach's shows and other information and news regarding the 2016 Mulerider Baseball team.
