MELISSA, Texas – A change of venue proved not to be a distraction for Southern Arkansas on Sunday evening as the Muleriders swept the Great American Conference doubleheader with East Central by winning the nine-inning opener 10-4 and the seven-inning nightcap 6-1 on the neutral, all-turf playing surface in Melissa, Texas.
The Muleriders (9-4, 4-1 GAC) took their second-straight league series with the sweep and did so behind an offensive performance that saw SAU score 16 runs on 21 hits, while the pitching staff scattered five runs on 14 hits in 16 innings on the hill.
In the opener, the two teams combined for eight of the game's 14 total runs in the first two innings of action. Southern Arkansas opened scoring in the top of the first as a pair of Tiger miscues led to two runs for the Muleriders. East Central answered in the bottom half of the frame with a three-run home-run off of SAU senior starter
Kenneth Tabor (3-1) to take a short-lived 3-2 lead after one.
RBI singles from senior classmates
Jake Tisevich and
Jacob Richardson in the top of the second inning gave the Muleriders a 4-3 lead, before the Tigers scratched their final run of the series opener in the following half inning on an RBI single.
Tabor would settle in with the game tied at four runs each as the southpaw surrendered just four hits, while allowing no runs in his final five innings on the mound to finish with the win.
An ECU fielding miscue led to another SAU run in the top of the fifth inning and gave the Muleriders a 5-4 lead. Southern Arkansas responded again in the sixth as an RBI double from the bat of senior
Mark Fontenot cushioned the SAU advantage to a pair of runs at 6-4.
Southern Arkansas turned to the bullpen for the eighth and ninth innings in Sunday's opener and were rewarded for the decision as junior
Eric White and redshirt freshman
Tanner Vaught tossed the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, and allowed no hits and no runs.
The Mulerider offense tacked on four runs in the ninth to back Vaught as a solo homerun from Fontenot and a three-run blast from the bat of
Dakota Wright pushed Southern Arkansas to the 10-4 win.
In the seven-inning affair, Mulerider senior star
Hunter Vasquez (1-0) went the distance tossing all seven innings in which he scattered six hits and a walk, while allowing just one run. Vasquez dealt a career-high eight strikeouts as he picked up his first win of the season.
Fontenot's fifth home run of the campaign left the park in the top of the first inning in the nightcap to give the Muleriders an early 1-0 lead. East Central answered with a solo shot in the home half of the first to tie the game at 1.
Redshirt sophomore
Zach Muldoon broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with a two-RBI single that plated both Tisevich and Richardson and gave SAU a 3-1. The two-run cushion would be more than enough for Vasquez as he allowed just three hits, while stranding all three on base in the final four innings of the ballgame.
Richardson got into the long ball act in the fifth as his fifth bomb of the season scored Fontenot and increased the lead to 5-1. Sophomore
Austin Baker accounted for the last run of the night as he scored on a throwing error after a wild pitch moved him to third in the visitor half of the seventh.
The SAU bats have banged out ten or more hits in three straight games and in four of their last five trips to the diamond. Of the aforementioned 21 hits by the club on Sunday, Fontenot accounted for six with three going for extra bases, including two that left the yard. Richardson followed with four hits and Baker and Wright added three hits each.
Fontenot, Richardson and Wright each accounted for three RBI, while Fontenot scored a team-high four runs.
Southern Arkansas concludes the Great American Conference series with East Central tomorrow, February 26, with a single nine-inning game slated for a 1 p.m. first-pitch. The live stat link is available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
