ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Twenty-six runs, twenty-two hits, nine errors and twenty-two stranded base runners summed up a hefty box score put together by No. 13 Southern Arkansas and Henderson State on Friday night in the Great American Conference opener from Clyde Berry Field. Led by the top of its order and solid relief pitching, it was the Muleriders that ended on top of a 15-11 decision as a pair of four-run innings helped SAU keep pace early on in the series opener.
 
The Muleriders (5-3, 1-0 GAC) won their sixth GAC opener in eight years behind another highly-productive offensive output that saw the visitors record at least a dozen hits and plate nine-plus runs for the fourth time in eight games.
 
The top of the order served as the catalyst for the Muleriders on Friday night as leadoff batter Austin Baker finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored, while Devin Beard went 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. The league's reigning player of the week in Brett McGee recorded just one hit, but accounted for three RBI and a run scored as the top three hitters combined in a 6-for-13 effort with ten RBI and four runs scored. Additionally, Jansen McCurdy, from the eighth spot in the lineup, plated a run and scored three times in a 3-for-3 performance.
 
Southern Arkansas scored four runs in both the second and third innings to lead 8-3 through two and a half innings, before the Reddies answered with a five-spot in the bottom of the third off of Mulerider starter Garrett Walker. Nathan Stubber entered with two outs in the third and worked to limit the damage from the Henderson State bats over the next 4.1 innings as he earned his first career win after scattering three runs on four hits, while striking out four, before giving way to Remy Bilodeau.
 
Before exiting, Stubber escaped bases loaded jams in both the fifth and sixth innings, while Bilodeau tossed the final two innings, walking just two, while stranding two runners in both the eighth and ninth, to earn his first career save.
 
In the aforementioned pair of four-run frames for the Mulerider offense, SAU took advantage of two Henderson State errors and used three hits, four walks and two hit-by-pitch to plate those eight runs. Southern Arkansas scored in six innings and in five of those frames, the Reddies committed an error.
 
SAU and Henderson State decide the series on Saturday, February 16 with a doubleheader slated for a 1 p.m. first-pitch. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.