GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – No. 35 Southern Arkansas received a two-run blast from the bat of senior
Jacob Richardson in the sixth inning of Saturday night's clash with No. 20 Angelo State at the Air Hogs DII Classic, but that would be all the offense the Muleriders would generate as the Rams rode their early-inning offense to a 5-2 victory in North Texas.
ASU (3-0) scratched single runs in the first and second innings and plated two more runs in the third inning off of Mulerider starting pitcher
Jacob Stroder (0-1). With a 4-0 lead entering the sixth inning of play, the Rams tacked on their last run of the night against Stroder to lead 5-0.
In the home half of the sixth inning, Richardson jacked an 0-2 offering into left centerfield that scored junior transfer Dalton Wright who singled to reach with one out in the inning.
Through the final three innings, the Rams would manage just a single hit off of SAU reliever
Tanner Vaught, who finished his three innings of work with four strikeouts, while inducing seven groundballs.
Angelo State banged out nine hits and committed two errors, while Southern Arkansas' two runs came on five hits with one error. Richardson accounted for two of the Muleriders' five hits and both of the team's RBI. Senior transfer
Jansen McCurdy and sophomore
Austin Baker joined Wright with a base hit.
The Muleriders return to the Ballpark at Grand Prairie one last time on opening weekend and will play the 16
th and final game of the invitational with a scheduled 7 p.m. first-pitch on Sunday, February 4, against Central Oklahoma. Live links for all of the action are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.