Magnolia, Ark. – The SAU Baseball team took the rubber match of their conference series against Oklahoma Baptist on Monday, piecing together timely hits combined with solid pitching to give the Muleriders the series over the Bison.

The scoring started in the bottom of the first, with Austin Baker drawing a leadoff walk. He stole second base two batters later, and scored on a Kane Koenigseder single to give the hosts the early lead.

The Bison tied the game back up on the top of the third with a leadoff triple and a groundout to bring the score to one apiece.
The Muleriders responded by pushing across three runs of their own – Jansen McCurdy led off the inning with a hit by pitch, and he subsequently stole second. A Josh Walker triple scored McCurdy, and Koenigseder grounded out to score Walker. Zach Muldoon followed that with his first home run of the season, a shot to left field that gave the hosts a 4-1 advantage.

The Muleriders tacked on another run courtesy of a Cooper King double in the fifth inning; the Bison struck with a solo home run in the top of the sixth to cancel out the run.

The final insurance run came in the bottom of the eighth, when Dakota Wright scored on a wild pitch.

Freshman Parker Abrego started his first conference game, going seven innings and allowing five hits and two runs, striking out five. The Argyle, Texas native improves to 4-0 overall on the season, and Matt Kortendick came in his relief for the final two innings, only allowing one hit and picking up his eighth save of the season.

The Muleriders improve to 21-10 on the season and 16-4 in conference play. They host Arkansas Tech tomorrow in a non-conference matchup before hitting the road to Bethany to take on Southern Nazarene in a three-game conference series.