MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Mulerider Baseball team is back in action today as they play host to Great American Conference-foe Harding in a non-league matchup beginning at 3 p.m. from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
The Muleriders (24-13, 15-9 GAC) is currently tied for fourth in the Great American Conference standings, while tying for the most wins by a league school so far this season with 24. SAU is coming off a home series win over Arkansas Tech in which they bounced back after a loss in the series opener to sweep a day two DH and take the series. Harding (18-20, 10-14 GAC) is eighth in the league standings and enters Tuesday afternoon's non-conference affair having won their last four games including a GAC series sweep of Arkansas-Monticello over the weekend.
These two programs clashed in Searcy earlier this month and the series saw Southern Arkansas take two of three from the Bisons. Recaps and box scores of that series can be found here:
April 3rd DH;
April 4th.
For Southern Arkansas, three players swing at a clip of .300 or higher led by
Justin Buchanan's average of .348. SAU has the third-highest team average in the league at .285. Buchanan leads the team in hits (46), doubles (11), RBI (33), total bases (76), slugging percentage (.576) and on-base percentage (.424).
Jake Tisevich (.320 batting average) has 40 hits, nine doubles and a team-high three triples, while ranking second in total bases (67) and stolen bases (10).
Trevor Rucker (.311 batting average) is second on the team in runs scored (33) and hits (41), while
Billy Germaine paces the Muleriders in runs scored (35) and home runs (10) and is second on the club in RBI (28), total bases (74), slugging percentage (.569) and on-base percentage (.422).
On the mound, a dozen pitchers have appeared in at least three games and SAU holds the top team-ERA in the league at 3.50. The Mulerider staff also owns the second-lowest opponent batting average at .253, while also allowing the fewest earned runs (119), second-fewest runs (149), and second-fewest walks (96). Additionally, SAU has allowed the third-fewest hits (292) of any GAC school.
A full statistical preview of Mulerider Baseball is available here:
http://www.muleriderathletics.com/custompages/Current%20Statistics/baseball/teamcume.htm.
Harding is fourth in team-fielding percentage (.966), fifth in team-ERA (4.45), and eighth in team-batting average (.262).
At the plate, two players boast a .300-plus average led by Zac Stewart. Stewart leads the team in runs scored (33), hits (57), doubles (13), triples (5), home runs (4), RBI (21), total bases (92), slugging percentage (.586) and on-base percentage (.406). Blake Coward (.313 batting average) is second on the club in slugging percentage (.448) and on-base percentage (.393).
The Bisons pitching staff has allowed the fewest walks in the conference so far this year at 95, but the fifth most hits at 342, while also allowing the fourth fewest runs (180). Eight players have appeared in 10-plus games on the hill for Harding. Collectively, the staff has 232 strikeouts in 319.2 innings pitched, while opponents hit at a clip of .273.
A full statistical preview of Harding Baseball is available here:
http://greatamericanconference.com/custompages/BASEBALL%20Stats/2016/hu.htm.
Live stats for today's DH are available here:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/saumag/baseball/. Live video will also be available here:
https://livestream.com/accounts/10140781.
Be sure to check
www.MuleriderAthletics.com or follow us on Twitter @MuleriderSports for the most up-to-date news on Mulerider Baseball.
