MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Junior right-hander
Jacob Stroder struck out a season-high 12 batters and picked up his fourth win of the year as his 7.2 innings of relief helped carry the No. 6-ranked Southern Arkansas baseball team to an 11-7 win over Henderson State in the series opener on Friday night at Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
TEAM RECORDS
Henderson State Reddies (20-14, 13-9 GAC)
#6 Southern Arkansas Muleriders (27-7, 20-2 GAC)
PITCHING DECISIONS
W –
Jacob Stroder (4-0
L – Luke Tebbetts (6-2)
S – NONE
HOW IT HAPPENED
- SAU jumped out to a 2-0 lead after a pair of runs scored in the bottom of the first inning thanks to RBI singles by Mark Fontenot and Jake Tisevich. In the top of the second, however, Henderson State flipped the score and took a two-run lead themselves after plating four in the top of the second.
- The Muleriders answered right back with a four-run inning of their own in the bottom half. In that inning Josey Langston and Michael Page set the table at the bottom of the order as each singled to begin the frame. Langston scored the first run of the inning on a single through the right side by Blake Hall and then Page and Hall scored a batter later as Trevor Rucker tripled down the left field line. A batter later, Rucker scored the fourth run as Mark Fontenot hit a sacrifice fly into left field.
- An inning later, the Muleriders added two more runs to their lead and were on top of Henderson 8-4, thanks to a RBI groundout by Hall and a throwing error with two outs that allowed Langston to score.
- In the fourth, Henderson benefited from a pair of Mulerider errors to plate their fifth run of the game.
- In the seventh, SAU continued to add to its lead as they scored three in the frame to take an 11-5 lead. The first two runs that inning scored on a two-RBI triple down the left field line off the bat of Michael Page. Two batters later, Page scored on Fontenot single up the middle.
- Nolan Ryan pinch-hit for the Reddies in the top of the eighth and hit a leadoff homerun to left field to make it 11-6 SAU. Later in the inning, Henderson kept threatening and eventually got a sacrifice fly to make the score 11-7, SAU.
- The Reddies mounted another threat in the ninth as the tying run was on deck with one out, but a strikeout and a groundout ended the game.
ON THE MOUND
- SAU starter Connor Wells lasted just 1.1 innings in the game before being lifted for reliever Jacob Stroder.
- Stroder turned in yeoman's work on the mound as he pitched the final 7.2 innings of the game. In his time on the mound, Stroder piled up the strikeouts as he sat down 12 Reddies. Five of Stroder's K's were called strike three's while the other seven were of the swinging variety.
- The 12 K's for Stroder tie for the most strikeouts by a Mulerider pitcher this season. Dalton Algiene also punched out 12 batters earlier this year in a start against Oklahoma Baptist.
AT THE PLATE
- The Muleriders totaled 15 hits in the game and all nine batters in the order had at least one base hit, while six hitters notched multi-hit games against Henderson.
- Accounting for the multiple hits were: Trevor Rucker, Mark Fontenot, Jacob Richardson, Cory Gallegos, Josey Langston, and Michael Page.
- Of the 11 runs scored, 10 were batted in and Blake Hall, Trevor Rucker, Mark Fontenot, and Michael Page all had multiple RBIs. Fontenot drove in the most runs with three while Hall, Rucker, and Page each had two RBIs.
- Scoring more than once in the game were Rucker, Gallegos, Langston, and Page.
ON DECK
The Muleriders and Reddies will conclude their three-game series with a Saturday afternoon doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.