MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Behind an 11-run, eight-hit third inning which was also supplemented by three Arkansas-Monticello errors, the Southern Arkansas Muleriders picked up a key in-region win over the Weevils in nonconference action on Tuesday night inside Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
 
After two quick, scoreless innings to begin the game, Southern Arkansas (14-7) opened scoring in a big way as they collected eight of their ten total hits and 11 of their 12 runs in the third inning alone to back Mulerider southpaw Hunter Lewis (1-0) who was making his first career start.
 
Lewis, a redshirt freshman, claimed his first career win in a predetermined start as he went 4.0 innings, while scattering three hits and a pair of runs against the Great American Conference's top offense by average.
 
The Muleriders' 11 runs in the aforementioned third inning were plated in a variety of ways as the inning saw SAU's first two runs come across without the home team recording a hit. Junior Dakota Wright led off the frame with a four-pitch walk and the action picked up from there.
 
Wright moved to second with one out in the inning following a throwing error on a fielder's choice off the bat of freshman Riley Orr. The pair would advance ninety feet on a wild pitch and in junior Austin Baker's at bat, both would score to give the Muleriders a 2-0 lead as Baker reached on a fielding error.
 
Baker raced to second on the inning's second wild pitch, before moving to third on a base hit by Jake Tisevich that saw the senior advance to second on the throw to the plate.
 
With two outs in the inning and the Muleriders leading 3-0, Southern Arkansas continued to take advantage of UAM miscues, while also getting the bats hot. Baker scored and Tisevich took third on UAM starter Ty Jones' third wild pitch of the inning.
 
Up 4-0, seven of the next eight Southern Arkansas batters collected a hit highlighted by RBI singles from the bats of senior Mark Fontenot and redshirt sophomore Zach Muldoon, two-run doubles by Wright and Tisevich and an impressive RBI-bunt single by Orr.
 
Lewis' only blemish on the mound against the Weevils came in the fourth inning with the Muleriders leading 11-0. The lefty surrendered a two-run home run before being relieved on the hill by redshirt sophomore Zac Harrington. Arkansas-Monticello would push two more runs across in the fifth inning and plated three more in the sixth inning against Harrington and redshirt freshman Tanner Vaught.
 
Vaught stranded a pair of UAM runners in that sixth inning and with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, he exited and gave way to hard-throwing right-hander Nick Starr. The junior emphatically ended UAM's potential game-tying threat with a strikeout and followed that by working a quick eighth inning that saw a dozen pitches and a pair of Weevil strikeouts.
 
Southern Arkansas plated an insurance run in the home half of the eighth inning as Fontenot scored Tisevich on an RBI fielder's choice to push the Mulerider lead to five runs entering the final frame. Starr capped the evening as he worked around a one-out single and a wild pitch in the ninth to retire the side via strikeout and pick up his second save of the season.
 
Offensively, Tisevich led Southern Arkansas with three hits, including a pair of doubles and classmate Sam Mrstik followed with a pair of base knocks. Baker, Tisevich, Wright and Orr each scored twice with Fontenot joining Tisevich and Wright as the three Muleriders to plate a pair of runs each.
 
Southern Arkansas returns to action on the road as they head to Weatherford, Oklahoma, for a three-game series with Southwestern Oklahoma on March 16 and 17. First-pitch for Friday's single, nine-inning game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader is slated for a noon start. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.