MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Seven Lady Muleriders collected a pair of hits apiece and eight players scored at least one run as Southern Arkansas plated 18 total runs, while receiving firm production in the circle to finish off Harding with a doubleheader sweep, 6-0 and 12-4, to take the highly-anticipated Great American Conference series 4-0 on Saturday afternoon at Dawson Field inside the Mulerider Softball Complex.

The Lady Muleriders (31-4, 23-4 GAC) become the fifth team in program history to reach the 30-win mark and are just six victories away from tying the single-season wins record which was set by the 2014 club that captured the GAC Tournament Championship.

Southern Arkansas totaled 19 hits on the afternoon led by three apiece from Maddie Dow, Brooke Goad and Darian Harris. Goad accounted for game one's first four RBI as she singled home Harris in the first, before connecting for her 16^th home run of the season; a three-run shot in the third-inning off of HU starter Hannah Johnson.
 
After picking up her 15^th win as well as her second save of the season yesterday, Kimmy Beasley (16-1) picked up where she left off as she tossed her second-consecutive complete game shutout scattering four hits and three walks, while striking out eight. The Lady Muleriders would push two more runs across in the sixth inning as an RBI groundout by Liz Hudgins plated pinch-runner Sydney Johnson, before pinch-runner Taylor Stricklin crossed home on a fielding error in Taylor Guin's ensuing at-bat.

After being held to just five runs in the first three games, Harding's offense caught a spark in the series finale as the Lady Bisons (25-17, 17-13 GAC) scored three runs in the first and a single run in the second. But Southern Arkansas answered the HU offense with four runs in the first and a half-dozen in the second inning to take a 10-4 lead into the third inning.

Kaylee Garner (15-3) worked four innings in the series finale, allowing four earned runs in the first two frames before working a perfect third and fourth innings. Peyton Jenkins made her fourth appearance of the season and worked a quick and unblemished fifth inning to seal the series sweep.

SAU's early run production in game four came courtesy of the long ball as a pair of two-run home runs in the first inning from Harris and Dow grabbed the lead back for SAU, before a six spot in the second put the Lady Muleriders out front for good. Southern Arkansas tallied seven extra-base hits in the first two innings and in the second frame, a pair of back-to-back two-out doubles from Ashton Atwell and Tyler Casada followed a lead-off homerun by Hudgins putting SAU up 8-4.

After a pair of two-out pitching changes, Casada scored on a fielding error off of the bat of Hudgins, her second at-bat of the inning, and Guin walked home Chelsea Jordan pushing SAU's lead to 6, 10-4.

Hudgins and Guin would help aid the final two runs to the plate in the fourth inning as the former doubled in Johnson, before the ensuing at-bat saw the latter single home Hudgins giving SAU the eight-run and potential run-rule advantage before the aforementioned efficient Jenkins appearance closed down the series.
 
Seven Lady Muleriders recorded at least one RBI, while Goad led the team with four and Hudgins followed with three. Goad and Harris scored a team-high three runs each. For the fifth game in a row, Southern Arkansas was perfect in the field.

The Lady Muleriders will now prepare for their toughest task to-date as they hit the road for Russellville, Arkansas, on April 8 and 9 for a four-game Great American Conference set with league-leader and fifth-ranked Arkansas Tech. First-pitch from Chartwells Women's Sports Complex on Friday is slated for 3 p.m.

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