ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Hunter Brantley recorded a quality start that spanned seven innings in Saturday's opener, while
Tanner Vaught posted five innings of one-run baseball in the series finale and No. 13 Southern Arkansas earned their sixth and seventh wins of the season on their way to sweeping Henderson State in the Great American Conference series opener for both teams from Clyde Berry Field.
The Muleriders (7-3, 3-0) won 9-0 in game two and 5-1 in the seven-inning game three and have claimed victory in four-straight games. Offensively, Southern Arkansas combined for 16 hits, while the series' second game saw SAU post at least eleven hits and plate nine-plus runs for the fifth time this season.
Brantley's first win of the campaign (1-2) came after he scattered seven hits, while working around a pair of runners in the fourth and seventh innings and out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth. He fanned seven to just three walks and gave way to reliever
Austin Stubber who faced the minimum over the final two innings as the duo combined for the shutout.
In the series finale, Vaught allowed just three hits with three walks and a run, while striking out three, and exited a tied ballgame after an RBI double from the bat of
Jansen McCurdy plated
Zach Muldoon in the top of the fifth to even the game at one run.
Matt Kortendick (3-0) took over for Vaught and mirrored Stubber's relief effort in the day's first game as the former faced just six batters in the sixth and seventh frames to claim the win after a four-run top of the seventh by the Muleriders comfortably set the club on its way to a series sweep.
Five players recorded a pair of hits in Saturday's opener, with McCurdy and
Cooper King each accounting for two RBI and
Austin Baker's two hits going for doubles. King and Baker along with
Brett McGee and
Josh Walker all scored twice. Muldoon registered two hits in the series finale and McCurdy's aforementioned RBI was the only one in the nightcap as the Muleriders plated their four seventh-inning runs on two errors and a pair of wild pitches.
The sweep of the Reddies marks the fourth time since 2012 that the Muleriders have swept their first GAC series of the season.
The Muleriders and Reddies will not have to wait long to see each other again as the two teams are scheduled for a nonconference midweek affair on Tuesday, February 19 at 6 p.m. from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Live coverage links are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
