MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The fourth week of the 2020 NCAA Division II Baseball season is here and for #2 Southern Arkansas the action will convene in central Arkansas as Harding awaits the Central Region's top team, according to the NCBWA, on Friday (1 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m. DH) from Jerry Moore Field in Searcy. The Muleriders will carry a program-best 11-0 start into its second Great American Conference series of the season. Live coverage links for the three-game set are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
 
Southern Arkansas (11-0, 3-0 GAC) enters the weekend as one of three unbeaten teams (#24 Oklahoma Baptist, Northwestern Oklahoma) in league play. Last weekend's sweep of Henderson State in the first league series of the season marked the 24^th GAC series sweep by the Muleriders since 2012. It was also the 65^th series won by SAU over league opponents during that time.
 
For Harding (6-4, 1-2 GAC), a road series defeat to #25 Mississippi College to open the season and a league series loss to Arkansas-Monticello last weekend are the lone blemishes in a ten-game record that includes a 4-0 mark at home. Most recently, the Bisons defeated Christian Brothers 12-3 in a midweek matchup in Searcy.
 
THE SERIES
Since 2012, when both SAU and Harding joined the GAC as charter members, the series between the two teams stands at 23-11 in favor of the Muleriders. In Searcy, Southern Arkansas holds a 7-5 advantage, but dropped two of three on the road to the Bisons in 2018. In the most recent matchup, Harding eliminated the Muleriders from last season's GAC Tournament with an 8-6 win on May 5. Overall, the Muleriders hold a 119-58 lead in a series that has records dating back to 1959.
 
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS
The Muleriders currently rank in the top 30 nationally in 11 statistical categories. Offensively, Southern Arkansas is hitting .301 this season with the 25^th-most hits in the country at 103 with 34 going for extra bases. Six players, including five who have started all 11 games, are currently hitting over .300 with senior Mason Peterson's .400 batting average (16-for-40) pacing the club.
 
In addition to average, Peterson leads the team in hits (16), runs scored (13), RBI (13), home runs (3), total bases (29) and slugging percentage (.725). Senior Kobe Morris (15), junior Jacob Martinez (15) and sophomore Ty Manning (14) have all recorded at least a dozen hits this season, while Morris and Martinez have scored 11 and 10 runs, respectively and each have delivered nine RBI. Sophomore Brett McGee has also recorded nine RBI, is one of six players with at least ten hits, and joins Peterson in round trippers with three.
 
Manning leads the team in doubles with five and he enters play this weekend joining Peterson as the only players to have reached base in all 11 games this season, while the former carries a team-leading nine-game hitting streak.
 
SAU has plated at least seven runs in seven of its 11 victories this season and the team has also won three one-run games. The Muleriders have totaled 77 runs; the third-most in the GAC and 25^th-best run-producing effort in Division II.
 
Behind that effort has been a hot start on the base paths to begin the season. SAU has been successful on 29 of their 31 stolen base attempts. The 29 swiped bags rank fourth nationally and the 2.64 stolen bases per game ranks 15^th nationally. Senior Austin Baker's seven stolen bases in as many attempts leads the GAC and ranks ninth in Division II.
 
Defensively, the Muleriders rank seventh in Division II with a .987 fielding percentage and have been error-free in the field in seven of the 11 games.
 
On the mound, SAU owns a staff ERA of 3.35 in 94.0 innings pitched. Four pitchers have recorded at least two wins this season and the Mulerider arms have tallied a collective 99 punch outs, while opponents are hitting .226.
 
The weekend starters for Southern Arkansas have been impressive to date as senior Zach Smith leads the team with a 3-0 record and a 0.52 ERA. Junior Hunter Brantley is 2-0 on the season with a team-leading 28 strikeouts in 18.1 innings of work. That punch out total ranks tenth nationally. Sophomore Parker Abrego has tossed a pair of complete games in a staff-high 20.2 innings. Smith and Abrego have recorded 20 strikeouts each.
 
In the bullpen, senior Matt Kortendick and junior Tanner Vaught have each recorded two saves. Vaught has appeared in a team-high four games and totaled 8.2 innings with a pen-high ten strikeouts. Sophomore Remy Bilodeau in two appearances, a two-inning relief stint and a seven-inning complete game start, has allowed just two earned runs with nine strikeouts, while opponents are hitting a pen-low .167 off of him.  
 
HARDING
As a team, the Bisons are hitting .221 this season with 19 extra base hits. Brendan Perrett leads the team in average at .318 (7-for-22), while three players, 2019 All-GAC Utility Player David Butterfield, Cody Smith and Michael Chrisman, have all registered ten hits. Butterfield leads the team in RBI with seven and Smith's eight runs scored are the most for the Bisons through ten games.
 
Pitching has been key for Harding in the early going of the season as the Bisons own the seventh-best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the country at a league-best 4.10, while the staff's walks allowed per nine innings ranks fifth nationally at 2.25. Additionally, Harding's walks/hits per innings pitched metric of 1.14 ranks 17^th in Division II. The team's ERA of 3.38 ranks third in the GAC.
 
A pair of starting pitchers in Logan McCall (2-1, 2.50 ERA) and Andrew Bradshaw (1-2, 3.12 ERA) have logged nearly half of the staff's innings this season with 35.1 innings pitched between them. McCall's 20 strikeouts leads the team and he has allowed just three extra base hits of the 11 hits surrendered. Bradshaw has recorded 13 Ks to just two walks, while five of his dozen hits allowed have went for extra bases. Between the two starters, nine batters have been hit-by-pitch, but both arms own opponent batting averages under .190 with McCall's .167 setting the standard for the staff.
 
Reigning GAC Newcomer of the Year Ryder Yakel has picked up where he left off from an all-region campaign a season ago as he has allowed just two hits and two walks in three appearances totaling 8.2 innings pitched. One year after collecting six saves and a 7-2 record overall, Yakel is once again the Bisons go-to arm in the backend of the bullpen as he has closed out two of the team's six wins and owns a .077 opponent batting average.