MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Great American Conference schedule rolls on this weekend as league play continues. Southern Arkansas (9-5, 5-4 GAC), which has won five of their past six games and is currently in a four-way tie for fourth-place and two games out of the top spot in the league standings, welcomes in East Central (2-11, 2-7 GAC) for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 19 at 6 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Live coverage links are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
The Muleriders are coming off a 5-4 midweek win at #17 UT-Tyler and carry a 3-1 record at home inside Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field into this weekend's matchup with East Central. The Tigers enter the fourth GAC series of the season having lost their past four league games which includes being swept by league-leading Oklahoma Baptist last weekend. Prior to that series, ECU took two of three from Northwestern Oklahoma State in early March. Since becoming charter members of the GAC in 2011-12, Southern Arkansas holds a 19-6 advantage in the series and has won six straight entering Friday's series opener and ten of the dozen previous meetings in Magnolia.
Through 14 games this season, Southern Arkansas is averaging over 6.5 runs per game and is led at the plate by a trio of players that currently own averages north of .300. Senior
Austin Baker, who became the 11
th Mulerider in program history to eclipse the 200 career hit mark in Tuesday's win, leads the Muleriders with a .389 average, 21 hits, four doubles, 15 runs scored and a .500 on-base percentage. With 202 career hits, Baker's next will place him in the top ten of the program's career hit list.
Senior
Kobe Morris owns a .353 average with 18 hits and a team-leading 13 RBI and seven stolen bases. Junior
Tucker Burton follows with a .333 average with 15 hits and is second on the team in home runs with four and total bases with 30. The team's 18 home runs ranks 21
st in the country as sophomore
Brett McGee, the team leader in slugging percentage (.667) and total bases (32), paces the team with six home runs; the 12
th most in Division II.
The Muleriders have swiped 26 bases this season led by Morris' seven and Baker's six. That team total ranks 21
st nationally and leads the GAC. Putting runners on has not been a problem for SAU as they have recorded 121 hits with 81 walks and 20 hit-by-pitch. The base-on-balls total ranks 15
th nationally.
Defensively, the Muleriders are fielding at a clip of .970 and have turned the ninth-most double plays in the country with nine, including three in Tuesday's aforementioned win over the Patriots.
On the mound, Southern Arkansas' team ERA is 3.92 and the group has struck out 98 batters in 117.0 innings of work. Four relievers have appeared in at least four games and have totaled over seven innings pitched. Sophomore
Santos Sosa' five appearances are a staff-high and in 10.1 innings pitched he has allowed only four hits and a single earned run to carry a 0.87 ERA.
Junior
James Janco is 2-0 in three starts over 12.1 innings with a team-low 2.19 ERA among pitchers with at least two starts this season. Senior
Zach Smith and sophomore
Parker Abrego have tossed a combined 46.2 innings for SAU this spring and the pair has combined for 33 strikeouts as Smith's 19 leads the team. Sophomore
Jacob Womack has fanned 15 in five appearances this spring. Sophomore reliever
Remy Bilodeau has allowed only two earned runs in 7.2 innings over four appearances.
ECU is hitting .220 as a team with Colton Schaper-Kotter (.359) and Garrett Lemons (.325) leading with .300+ batting averages. Four players have recorded ten or more hits this season led by Schaper-Kotter's 14. He also leads the team in RBI (10), doubles (2), home runs (2), slugging percentage (.564), walks (12), and on-base percentage (.510). Seven players have scored at least five runs with four players having scored eight times.
The Tigers are fielding .943 as a team and own a staff ERA of 9.06. Top starter Spencer Johnson is 0-2 in five starts with a 6.68 ERA in 21.0 innings pitched. Jonny Chavez has a team-high six appearances with a 5.40 ERA in a team-leading 21.2 innings and 26 strikeouts. ECU has totaled 89 strikeouts as a staff.
