MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Mulerider Baseball team is set for a non-conference road tilt with traditional NAIA-power LSU-Shreveport tonight with a scheduled 6 p.m. first-pitch time at Pilots Field.
 
The Muleriders (2-2) split last year's home and home with LSUS, losing 9-0 on the road last February, before taking a 9-3 win at home in late March. Southern Arkansas opened their 2016 season at the SAU DII Classic at the Ballpark at Grand Prairie, where they went 2-2 with a pair of wins against Great American Conference-foe East Central and the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletic Association's Washburn.
 
Through four games, Southern Arkansas is hitting .258 as a team, scoring 18 runs on 34 hits with nine walks and five hit-by-pitches. Zach Silvers leads the Muleriders in batting average at a clip of .400, while Justin Buchanan, Byron Brooks and Keaton Miller are all hitting .333.
 
On the mound, the Muleriders have a 3.50 ERA in 36 innings of work, while allowing opponents to hit just .217 as a staff. Kenneth Tabor and Jared Fielden account for the Mulerider wins in the young season as Tabor scattered three hits and struck out eight in six shutout innings to beat East Central and pick up his first career win, while Fielden fired two perfect innings in relief, collecting four strikeouts in a 4-3 win over Washburn.
 
The Pilots are 2-1 on the year with a pair of wins over the NAIA's fifth-ranked team Oklahoma City. They are hitting .371 as a team after their opening weekend series and have collected 36 hits, scored 22 runs and have a .495 slugging percentage. LSUS' pitching staff has a collective 4.50 ERA with 17 strikeouts, while opponents are hitting just .218.
 
Tuesday night's matchup with the Pilots will be a tune-up for the Muleriders who will open up at home this weekend at the SAU Invitational with four games scheduled from February 12-14. Also competing in the invite will be Central Missouri, Oklahoma Christian, Central Oklahoma and Washburn. Follow this link for Mulerider Baseball game times and opponents: http://muleriderathletics.com/schedule.aspx?path=baseball&.
 
Live stats for tonight's game in northwest Louisiana can be found here: http://sidearmstats.com/saumag/baseball/. Live audio is available here: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lsus/.