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Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Official Athletics Site of the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders
Santos Sosa vs. Ouachita (3-12-21)
Kenli Barner
2
Ouachita Baptist OUA 3-7, 2-5 GAC
3
Winner Southern Arkansas SAU 7-4, 4-3 GAC
Ouachita Baptist OUA
3-7, 2-5 GAC
2
Final
3
Southern Arkansas SAU
7-4, 4-3 GAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ouachita Baptist OUA 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 6 3
Southern Arkansas SAU 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 X 3 6 0

W: Sosa, Santos (1-1) L: Luke Scaggs (1-2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | By: Jacob Pumphrey

Smith, Sosa Dominate as Muleriders Beat Ouachita 3-2 in Series Opener

Southern Arkansas picks up 12th win in last 13 games inside Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Senior right-hander Zach Smith put together seven strong innings of six-hit baseball with eight strikeouts and freshman right hander Santos Sosa worked the final two innings allowing only a single walk with three strikeouts. The Muleriders pushed across the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of a 3-2 Great American Conference win over Ouachita as Friday Night Baseball made its long awaited return to Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field.
 
Smith's fourth start of the season was arguably his best as he faced 29 batters. He worked around a Ouachita threat in the third inning as a bang-bang play of the strike 'em out, throw 'em out variety included Smith fanning the Tigers' Tyler Riebock and Brett McGee hosing Chad Burris at second on a tag by Riley Orr to end the frame.
 
Smith struck out three batters in the fourth inning and stranded two OBU base runners in the fifth. Through five innings of work, the lone blemish on Smith's ledger was a solo home run from Ouachita's Cole Kelly that opened scoring in the top of the second inning to stake Tiger starter Hunter Gautreaux to a 1-0 lead. Gautreaux tossed 7.0 innings of four-hit baseball with six strikeouts to just one walk.
 
Prior to Smith working around a situation in the fifth, the Muleriders pushed across two runs in the home half of the fourth inning as Austin Baker doubled into right field and scored on an errant throw following a single off the bat of Kobe Morris which tied the game at 1. That served as Morris' team-leading 11th RBI of the season which broke a tie with McGee. The ensuing at bat, McGee matched Morris' RBI totaling by plating Morris on an RBI-groundout to give SAU a 2-1 advantage.
 
With two outs in the sixth, the Tigers struck for their final run as a two-out base knock from Jared Free scored Cole Kelly to tie the game at 2.
 
Smith's final inning of work was a quick one as the Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the frame. Sosa entered in the eighth and after a frame-opening punch out of Louis Steen and a groundout, he worked around a two-out walk to induce an inning-ending ground ball.
 
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, back-to-back singles from Morris and McGee produced the game's final run. Morris moved to third on the single by McGee and scored on a misplayed throw in the infield in the same at bat as SAU took a late 3-2 lead.
 
The single run is all that Sosa would need as he sat down Free and CW Schrader via strikeouts, before forcing Jaxon Chaney to foul out to Baker who made an excellent play moving to his left to record the final out on the warning track; just a couple of steps in front of the brick wall.
 
Morris went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Baker, McGee, Tucker Burton and Mason Peterson all recorded hits.
  
The Muleriders and Tigers decided a series winner on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled for a 2 p.m. start from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
 
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