MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas baseball team upended visiting Ouachita Baptist twice on Saturday afternoon by scores of 5-3 and 3-2 to give SAU a doubleheader sweep and a 2-0 advantage in the series with the final game set to be played on Sunday afternoon at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
In the opener, the Muleriders (16-9, 9-5 GAC) would jump out in front with a three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead. The first of those runs was pushed across on a clutch two-out single through the left side of the bat of
Justin Buchanan, while the final two runs came home on a misplayed ball in right field off the bat of
Byron Brooks.
That 3-0 score would remain until the top of the fourth when the Tigers (7-16, 4-10 GAC) got on the board with a single run thanks to a RBI single by Kyle Alexander.
The Muleriders would tack on single runs in their half of the fifth and sixth innings to stretch their lead out to four runs, 5-1. Picking up RBIs over that stretch were
Josey Langston on a RBI single into left field in the fifth and
Zach Silvers on a RBI single up the middle in the sixth.
The Tigers would cut their four-run deficit in half with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but SAU starting pitcher
Kenneth Tabor would get out of the inning to complete seven innings of work and keep himself in line for his sixth win of the season.
Tabor would go on to get that win as a
Makenzy Larsen tossed a scoreless eighth inning in relief before giving way to
Jared Fielden, who came on in the ninth to nail down his second save of the season.
In game two, Ouachita was the team to jump out to an early lead as the Tigers scored a pair of runs in the top of the second inning off of reigning GAC Co-Pitcher of the Week,
Hunter Mayo. After giving up the two-run single, Mayo would strike the next batter out looking to end the inning, and over the remainder of the game, Mayo would hold the Tigers scoreless on just two more hits.
With Mayo settling into the start, the Muleriders would back him offensively in the fourth as they scored twice to knot the game at two-all.
In that inning,
Jake Tisevich drove in the first run on a single to left field which scored Langston, who reached on a throwing error by the Tiger third baseman to begin the inning. Also on Tisevich's single,
Billy Germaine, who walked after Langston's at-bat, advanced to third base to put runners on the corners with one out.
The ensuing batter would foul out on a bunt attempt for the second out of the inning. During the next at-bat, Tisevich broke for second base and got in a rundown long enough to allow Germaine to score the tying run from third.
After that, neither team would score in the fifth and sixth innings, sending the game to the seventh tied at two-all.
In the top of the seventh, the Tigers looked to have positioned themselves well to score the go-ahead run as Austin White doubled to left field to lead off the inning. During the next at-bat, however, White was picked off at second base by Mayo for the first out of the inning. Mayo would finish that at-bat with a popout for the second out and then he worked around a two-out walk to end the top of the seventh.
In the bottom of the frame, the Muleriders positioned themselves well for a possible game-winning score as the first two batters drew full count walks from Ouachita starter Connor Reed. Following the back-to-back walks, Silvers laid down a successful sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position with just one out.
Now with runners at second and third with one out, the Muleriders called upon their nine-hole hitter
Michael Page to lay down a safety squeeze to the right side of the infield in hopes of scoring
Byron Brooks as the winning run. Page would be able to do just that as his bunt got down and the attempted flip from the Tigers' first baseman was not in time as Brooks slid in to home safely for the walk-off win.
The Muleriders will now look to sweep the three-game series on Sunday as the two teams will play the final game starting at 1 p.m. at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
