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#7 SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
LADY MULERIDERS
32-6 (22-4 GAC) |
HENDERSON STATE
REDDIES
16-22 (10-15 GAC) |
Friday, April 7 | 4 p.m. | DH
Delores Brumfield White Field - Arkadelphia, Ark.
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
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Saturday, April 8 | 2 p.m. | DH
Delores Brumfield White Field - Arkadelphia, Ark.
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
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GAME NOTES (PDF)
LEADING OFF
#7 Southern Arkansas is staring down their toughest stretch of the 2017 campaign as the Lady Muleriders, 12-0 on the road this season, are set to begin a 10-game road swing through the state of Arkansas beginning with a four-game Great American Conference set in Arkadelphia against Henderson State (16-22, 10-15 GAC). The Lady Muleriders split a "Rivalry Tuesday" doubleheader with Arkansas-Monticello earlier in the week, while the Reddies enter this weekend's series having lost their last seven games.
SAU counters with arguably one of the best offensive lineups from top to bottom in the country and is averaging a nation-leading 1.83 home runs per game. Southern Arkansas' slugging percentage of .599 is the third-highest mark in the country, while its .438 on-base percentage ranks fourth nationally. Run production slowed slightly in the past month dropping from a nation's best 9.70 runs per game in early March to currently the sixth-best mark in the country at 7.67 runs per game.
The Lady Muleriders boast the top offense in the Great American Conference and
own league-bests in ten offensive categories: batting average (.335), slugging percentage (.592), on-base percentage (.435), runs scored (287), hits (355), RBIs (262), doubles (63), home runs (68), total bases (628), plate appearances (1280), and walks (158). The lineup responsible for that high offensive production features five players that have played and started all 38 games and are hitting .325 or better with all having 38 or more hits. Three of those five players have 34 or more RBI, with a pair of players owning 46 or more. A Lady Mulerider boasts
the best mark in ten offensive categories within the Great American Conference.
A relatively unheralded pitching staff possesses both a youth and veteran presence in starters freshman
Victoria Taylor (1.91 ERA) and senior
Kaylee Garner (1.89 ERA). The duo has combined for 28 of SAU's 32 wins, 197 strikeouts to just 43 walks and 13 complete games, while Garner has tossed a no-hit performance. The bullpen has been solid as well as
Jill Roye has three wins and three saves in 13 appearances and sports a 1.36 ERA with a 25-to-7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Peyton Jenkins is 1-1 on the season with a save and owns a 1.58 ERA in nine appearances. Opponents are hitting just .219 against the Lady Mulerider pitching staff.
A breakdown of SAU's first 38 games includes thirteen games with 10 or more runs, a dozen run-rule victories, eight one-run wins, four extra-inning affairs with three reaching the tenth inning, and six loses by a combined seven runs.
First-pitch for Friday's doubleheader is slated for 4 p.m. with Saturday's double feature scheduled for 2 p.m. Live coverage links and game-by-game recaps of all of this weekend's action will be available at www.muleriderathletics.com.
THE DOW IS RISING
Senior first baseman
Maddie Dow has 70 career home runs with 18 of those home runs coming this campaign. Dow currently leads NCAA Division II in home runs and owns the highest league marks in slugging percentage (1.047), on-base percentage (.591), home runs (18), runs scored (47), RBI (53), total bases (112), walks (27) and hit-by-pitch (17).
Dow's 70 bombs to this point in her electric career at Southern Arkansas are fourth all-time in NCAA Division II history. The Bonham, Texas, is nine home runs shy of tying the NCAA Division II career record of 79 set by Steph Denlinger of Kutztown from 2006-2009.
Dow has also cracked the Top-10 of the NCAA Division II Career Walks list and is currently in eighth-place all-time with 148. She is 12 walks away from moving into the top-five of the category. To this point in the season, Dow has been hit-by-pitch 17 times; two shy of tying the single-season record at SAU which was set last season by
Summer Ehrig (19).
NFCA NUMBER 7
For the eighth-consecutive week, the Southern Arkansas Softball program has been tabbed to a Top 10 spot nationally in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top-25 Coaches Poll. The Lady Muleriders (32-6, 22-4 GAC) have appeared in all eight weekly NFCA polls this season after beginning the year at No. 5 nationally in the organization's Top-25 Preseason Poll. Currently ranked as the No. 7 team in the nation, Southern Arkansas has spent three weeks as the second-ranked team in the nation; its highest ranking in program history.
Dating back to last season's week 7 poll, the Lady Muleriders have appeared in 15-straight NFCA DII Top-25 polls. Before their first ever national ranking at No. 23 in week 7 of 2016, SAU received votes in weeks five and six.
GAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Jill Roye (
WEEK 2),
Maddie Dow (
WEEK 3 |
WEEK 6 |
WEEK 9),
Marina Duran (
WEEK 5) and
Brooke Goad (
WEEK 7) have all staked claim to the GAC's Player of the Week award this season with Dow claiming the honor three times, while freshman starting pitcher
Victoria Taylor (
WEEK 5) garnered the first GAC Pitcher of the Week award for her career.
COACHING MILESTONES
Head Coach
Jason Anderson claimed career victory #400 on February 25 with a 10-0 road victory over East Central in the series finale. On March 13, Anderson claimed his 100th career victory at Southern Arkansas in an 8-0, run-rule victory against Southern Nazarene at home. Anderson became the second head coach in program history to win 100 games and is just 25 wins from tying the program record for victories by a head coach which was set by Kevin Blaskowski (136-126 | .519); the school's first head coach and current head coach of West Texas A&M.
The Sheridan, Arkansas, native already owns the program record for win percentage which currently sits at .730 (111-41). Anderson, who is in his third season at Southern Arkansas, currently averages over 40 wins a season, has six seasons with 40 or more wins including four with 52 or more and has not had a losing season in ten years as a head coach. Anderson is currently 98-38 in league play in his four years as a head coach in the GAC and 55-12 since the beginning of last season.
SCOUTING HENDERSON STATE
Henderson State is currently tied for sixth in the Great American Conference standings with Northwestern Oklahoma. HSU owns a 10-6 home record with three extra-inning wins.
At the plate, the Reddies are led by three players that have a .300 average or better and that have started at least 33 of the team's 38 games. Keirsten Seahorn's .319 batting average leads the team as do her 19 runs scored, ten doubles, 27 RBI, .487 slugging percentage, and .426 on-base percentage. Courtney Warren is hitting .310 with a team-best 39 hits and ten doubles and is tied with Seahorn and two other Reddies for the team lead in home runs with three.
Henderson State is 27-of-40 on stolen bases this season. Seven players have stole two or more bags led by Alyssa Dixon's six.
In the circle, Henderson State has been led by Michelle Sorensen, who owns a 1.98 ERA and a 12-10 record in 29 appearances. She has tossed 14 complete games and has four shutouts, one combined shutout and a pair of saves in a league-high 154.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .172 against the junior. Sorensen allows less than a third of an earned run per inning. As a staff, HSU has a 3.10 ERA in 272.2 innings pitched.
HSU's complete season statistics are available here.
THE COACH
Beth Jackson is in her ninth season as head coach of the Henderson State Softball program and has compiled a record of 236-244 entering this weekend of play. Jackson and the Reddies have appeared in the last five Great American Conference Tournaments including a runner-up finish in the 2015 season. That season, Jackson led HSU to the GAC regular season crown, the NCAA Central Region II championship game and a program record 43 wins, while being tabbed with the league's Coach of the Year honor.
THE SERIES
SAU leads the series 37-36, but has a record of 15-19 against the Reddies in Arkadelphia. This weekend marks Southern Arkansas' first trip to Arkadelphia since the 2012 season; the first year of play in the Great American Conference. The Lady Muleriders did not fair well in Clark County that year as they dropped all four games to HSU by a combined score of 23-8.
LAST SEASON
Southern Arkansas posted a 5-1 record against Henderson State last season including a 3-1 mark in a regular season series in Magnolia. That series saw three one-run games with two ending in extra innings. The Lady Muleriders twice took down the Reddies in the Great American Conference Tournament including a 5-3 victory in the winner's bracket and an 8-1 win two days later that eliminated sixth-seeded Henderson State.
