SEARCY, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas baseball team totaled 21 hits and scored 11 runs across both ends of Sunday's doubleheader at Harding, but a four-run fifth inning by Harding in the nightcap helped force a split in the twin-bill, setting up the rubber game of the series on Monday afternoon.
 
In the opener, the Muleriders (21-12, 12-8 GAC) would collect 15 of their 21 hits on the day as five hitters in the lineup had multiple hits. Of those five, Austin Bishoff, Billy Germaine, and Josey Langston each had three hits apiece to help pace the offense.
 
Over the first three innings of the opening game is when the Muleriders had the hit-parade rolling as they would bang out 10 hits while also platting six runs to jump out to an early 6-0 lead.
 
During the middle innings of the game, the Muleriders would tack on two runs on five hits to make it an 8-0 lead.
 
The offensive onslaught over the first six innings by the Muleriders was in favor of starting pitcher Kenneth Tabor, and as the Muleriders were racking up base hits and scoring runs, Tabor was holding the Bisons (14-19, 7-13 GAC) not only off the scoreboard but also off the base paths entirely.
 
In fact, Tabor would allow just one base runner over the first five innings while also not surrendering a hit until one out in the sixth inning.
 
After giving up that initial hit, Tabor would pick off the runner and then induce a fly out to get out of the sixth.
 
Tabor would work a scoreless seventh inning, but the Bisons would load the bases with no outs in the eighth as they finally got to Tabor and pushed across a pair of runs for their lone tallies of the game.
 
In the backend of the doubleheader, SAU would score first once more as Jake Tisevich singled up the middle in the top of the first to score Germaine.
 
The Muleriders would add a single run in the third to take a 2-0 lead as Justin Buchanan hit an infield single which scored Trevor Rucker.
 
That score would hold until the bottom of the fifth when the Bisons struck for four runs on six hits to take a 4-2 lead.
 
SAU's Tisevich would homer to right field to lead off the top of the sixth, making it a 4-3 game, but Harding added a run of insurance in the bottom of the frame and held off a two-out rally in the top of the seventh to take game two and force a split in the doubleheader.
 
The Muleriders and Bisons will return to Jerry Moore Field on Monday to decide the series as the rubber game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.