Baseball | 2/1/2019 9:08:00 AM
MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Following one of the more impressive postseason runs in program history, the Southern Arkansas Mulerider Baseball team begins a new chapter as the team opens the 2019 campaign on February 1 in Magnolia for a three-game series with Washburn of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. First-pitch for Friday's pair of nine-inning games is scheduled for 2 p.m. with Saturday's single nine-inning game set for 5 p.m. from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Live coverage links for the series are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
Despite losing five position players (38 or more starts), three starting pitchers (77% of starts), and the team's top two closers (15-of-16 saves) from a season ago, the Muleriders were picked by the league's head coaches to win the Great American Conference Regular Season Championship after receiving seven of the 12 first-place votes and 114 total points.
The nod as preseason favorites marks the seventh time in the league's eight years that the Muleriders have sat atop the poll with the projected fourth-place finish in 2017 being the lone non-league favorite season for SAU Baseball. SAU enters the 2019 season as defending GAC Tournament Champions after the Muleriders battled out of the loser's bracket as the tournament's two seed to claim the title; the program's fifth GAC Tournament Championship and eighth overall tournament championship since 2006.
#13 Southern Arkansas opens the season at home for the first time since 2015 and welcomes in a familiar early-season foe in Washburn. The Muleriders and Ichabods will play for the fourth-consecutive year after having met a combined five times since 2016 with SAU winning three of those contests, including last season's walk-off win at the Air Hogs DII Classic in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Head Coach
Justin Pettigrew, the 2017 GAC Coach of the Year, enters his third year at the helm of the Mulerider Baseball program. In his previous two seasons, Pettigrew has led the Muleriders to 80 wins, 50 of which have come in Great American Conference play, a pair of league titles (2017 GAC Regular Season Championship & 2018 GAC Tournament Championship) and two Central Region Tournament appearances. Pettigrew begins the 2019 season twenty wins away from becoming the fifth coach in program history to reach the 100-win milestone.
With plenty of new players, most of who will play a key role this year, throughout the 2019 Mulerider Baseball Roster,
a pair of NCBWA Preseason All-Central Region Second-Team selections return for Southern Arkansas. Senior outfielder
Dakota Wright and junior second baseman
Austin Baker are two familiar faces that will help lead SAU in 2019. Additionally,
Zach Muldoon,
Riley Orr, and
Cole Boyd are all back for Southern Arkansas after seeing significant time last spring as are
Jansen McCurdy and
Kane Koenigseder.
On the hill,
Hunter Brantley and
Tanner Vaught combined for 21 appearances last season and will be joined by transfer senior
Garrett Walker as dependable starters for the Muleriders this spring.
A season preview of the Ichabods is available
here.
Washburn Game Notes.
