MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Makenzy Larsen surrendered just one run after entering with two on and no outs in the eighth inning and
Jared Fielden worked around runners at second and third with one out in the ninth inning to preserve a 5-4 Mulerider win over Harding on Tuesday afternoon from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
The Muleriders (25-13) answered a Harding run in the top of the first inning with five straight runs as they led 5-1 after six innings of play. SAU starter
Timothy Buchanan earned his first victory of the season after a predetermined start carried him through the fourth inning as he scattered four hits, while giving up just one run and striking out three.
In the second inning,
Keaton Miller plated the Muleriders' first run of the game on an infield single fielded deep in the left side allowing
Billy Germaine to score. An RBI-groundout from
Michael Page two batters later pushed
Austin Bishoff home and gave Southern Arkansas a lead that they would not surrender despite the aforementioned late pressure from the Harding offense in the eighth and ninth innings.
T. Buchanan worked a perfect third inning and pitched around a runner at third in the fourth, while his batterymate in
Justin Buchanan plated a run in the SAU third with a base hit to right centerfield that scored
Jake Tisevich putting SAU up 3-1.
A sacrifice fly from J. Buchanan in his next at-bat in the fifth inning plated
Nathan Stubber to put SAU up three runs, 4-1. In the sixth inning, Page recorded another RBI, this time with a safety squeeze sac-bunt that scored Bishoff as the Muleriders lead by four runs into the seventh inning.
After producing just two hits through the fifth and sixth innings off of
Travis Johnson, who entered to begin the fifth in relief of T. Buchanan, Harding finally got to the reliever as the Bisons quickly added a run and placed runners at second at third with no outs in the seventh.
Dalton Algiene relieved Johnson and a sacrifice-fly accounted for the second Harding run as the Bisons cut down the Mulerider lead, 5-3.
Back-to-back singles for the Bisons to lead-off the eighth inning ended Algiene's stint on the mound as Larsen entered in relief. Harding loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch and an 8-6 double play on a fly-out brought the Bisons within a run at 5-4, before Larsen found a swinging strikeout to end the Harding threat.
Holding on to a one-run advantage, Fielden was given the ninth inning as he looked for his seventh save of the season. After working around back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt that put the go ahead run at second base with one out, Fielden dealt a strikeout and a groundout as Southern Arkansas held on to take the midweek affair 5-4.
Trevor Rucker led Southern Arkansas with three hits, while J. Buchanan added a pair of hits and two RBI. Page added a pair of RBI, while Bishoff scored a team-high two runs. The Muleriders banged out a dozen hits, while the five-man pitching committee scattered ten hits.
Southern Arkansas now turns their attention to a three-game Great American Conference series with league-leading Southeastern Oklahoma State. First-pitch from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field on Friday, April 15, is scheduled for 6 p.m., with Saturday's DH slated for high noon.
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