MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The 2020 NCAA Division II Baseball season begins Friday across the country and for the (RV) Southern Arkansas Muleriders, picked third in the Great American Conference Preseason Coaches Poll and most recently named the league's program of the decade, the road to Cary, North Carolina, begins in the Lone Star State at the 4Him Classic hosted by Colorado Christian in Cleburne, Texas.
 
The Muleriders will compete in the pool-play style tournament with a bright and early season-opening affair with Oklahoma Panhandle State on Friday at 9 a.m. The Muleriders are 6-4 in season openers since 2010. On Saturday, SAU will again face a 9 a.m. first-pitch as Newman awaits in a contest that will be the Muleriders' first in-region game of the season. That afternoon, the Muleriders will match up with (RV) Wayne State (NE) at 4:30 p.m. to conclude its opening slate of opponents. Sunday's opponent and start time are To Be Determined as the Muleriders will play their equivalent in the opposite bracket which consists of host Colorado Christian, Southern Nazarene, UMary, and Rogers State.
 
Live stat links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com, while game recaps and box scores for each game will be made available following the conclusion of play each day. A Tournament Central page can be viewed at the link above.

Southern Arkansas enters its 25^th season of play as an NCAA Division II member under fourth-year head coach Justin Pettigrew (109-55) and are coming off a respectable 29-20 campaign with a second-place finish in the GAC regular season standings (21-11 GAC). High expectations surround the program, in large part to having captured eight conference titles in the past ten years, as the Muleriders eye an extended postseason run in 2020 after suffering an early exit in the GAC Tournament last spring which promptly ended SAU's season.
 
SAU returns five position players that saw quality time a season ago in addition to three starting pitchers and a pair of relievers. Most notably, senior infielder Austin Baker is back after ranking as the 11^th toughest player to strikeout in Division II baseball last spring in addition to ranking 12^th in the country in stolen bases.
 
Top Returners:
2B        Austin Baker                 SR        .348, 72 H, 32 SB, .407 OB%, .979 FLD%,
            2019 Accolades: NCBWA All-Central Region HM, All-GAC 2nd Team, GAC All-Defensive Team, All-Natural State, Google Cloud Academic
            All-District 7 First Team
3B        Cooper King                 JR        .310, 5 HR, 16 2B, 39 RBI                     
C/DH    Brett McGee                  SO       .300, 2 HR, 11 2B                                 
C/DH    Zach Muldoon               SR        .288, 4 HR                                            
1B        Josh Walker                  JR        .265, 6 HR                                            
SP (L)   Hunter Brantley              JR        5 W, 77.2 IP, 79 SO                              
SP (R)  Remy Bilodeau              SO       4.21 ERA, 52 IP, 43 SO                        
SP (R)  Parker Abrego               SO       5 W, 42.1 IP                                         
RHP     Matt Kortendick             SR        9 SV, 6 W, 1.51 ERA, 20 APP
            2019 Accolades: NCBWA All-Central Region Second Team, All-GAC 2nd Team, All-Natural State
            2020 Accolades: NCBWA Preseason All-Central Region Second Team
RHP     Tanner Vaught               JR        4 W, 51.2 IP     
 
Top Newcomers:
SS        Kobe Morris                  SR        UNIV. OF ALABAMA
LF        Jacob Martinez              JR        HOWARD COLLEGE
CF        Ty Manning                   SO       HOWARD COLLEGE
RF        Tucker Burton                JR        RANGER COLLEGE
RHP     Zach Smith                   SR        UNIV. OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
LHP      Dakota Frachiseur         FR        HORATIO HS (ARK.)
RHP     Jack Liddell                  JR        CONNORS STATE COLLEGE