MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After playing a three-game Great American Conference series over the past weekend, the Southern Arkansas Muleriders and Ouachita Tigers are set to play once more this afternoon as the two will meet in Arkadelphia for a non-conference contest starting at 2 p.m.
In the recent weekend series, SAU won all three games by a total margin of victory of five runs as the Muleriders won a pair of two-run games to open and close the series, while also coming away with a one-run, walk-off win in the middle game of the set.
With the series sweep by SAU, the Muleriders are now 17-9 overall with a GAC record of 10-5 while the Tigers fell to 7-17 overall and 4-11 in the GAC.
Entering today's non-conference tilt, the Muleriders are hitting .288 as a team with a slugging percentage of .431 and an on-base percentage of .382. Those offensive marks rank the Muleriders third in the GAC in batting average, and fourth in the league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Tigers are hitting .251 as a team with a slugging percentage of .341 and an on-base percentage of .348. Their team batting average ranks seventh in the GAC while their on-base percentage ranks eighth and their slugging percentage ranks ninth.
In terms of pitching, the Muleriders boast the league's top ERA at 3.47 and fourth-best opponent batting average at .258. For the Tigers' their 5.56 team ERA ranks ninth while their .264 opponent batting average ranks fifth in the GAC.
Individually, the Muleriders have three players hitting over .300 with senior catcher
Justin Buchanan leading the way with a .373 (31-for-83) batting average. Buchanan also leads the team in hits (31), doubles (9), and total bases while ranking second on the club in RBIs (17) and homeruns (3).
The other two players over .300 in terms of batting average are:
Jake Tisevich (.329 | 28-for-85) and
Trevor Rucker (.315 | 28-for-85). Two other Muleriders are hitting over .290 with
Josey Langston checking in at .298 (17-for-57) and
Zach Silvers at .293 (22-for-75).
For the Tigers, two players are hitting over .300 with Ryan Hammer leading the way at .306 (11-for-36). Justin Weigle is second on the team at .301 (22-for-73). In terms of power production, Weigle and Victor Drijer are tied for the team-lead in RBIs with 12 and three Tigers, including Drijer, are tied for the team-lead in homeruns with two (2).
First-pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Rab Rodgers Field in Arkadelphia and the game can be followed live through the following LIVE STATS link:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/ouachita/baseball/
