MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After playing their last eight games at home, the Southern Arkansas University softball team will hit the road for eight straight games with the first stop coming in Durant, Oklahoma this weekend. The 18-11 (11-3 GAC) Muleriders will take on Southeastern State Oklahoma University who come in at 18-15 (9-5 GAC). The series will get started on Friday afternoon with a single game at 3:00 p.m. followed by a double-header on Saturday that is set to start at noon.

The Muleriders are coming off of their second GAC sweep in a row as they took down East Central in three games last weekend, and Ouachita Baptist the week before. The Savage Storm dropped two out of three to Arkansas-Monticello last weekend. SAU has outscored its GAC opponents 81-21.

The SAU pitching staff of Kiana Pogroszewski, Sydney Ward, Macie Welch and Baylie Thornhill have done a nice job of limiting runs as the staff leads the GAC in ERA with a 1.73 and sits 13^th nationally. The staff has allowed the fewest runs in the conference, the second fewest hit and they have struck out the second most batters with 194 k's.

Ward leads the team with nine wins, and has the most strikeouts with 68 as she has pitched 73.2 innings and hold a 1.62 ERA. Pogroszewski holds a team leading 1.35 ERA to go along with six wins and 62 strikeouts through 62.1 innings. Welch has struck out 38 batters over the course of 37.0 innings to go along with two wins. Thornhill picked up her first win as a Mulerider last weekend and currently hold a 2.30 ERA through 24.1 innings of work.

The Mulerider pitching staff has been getting good run support in recent weeks as the team batting average (.270) continues to climb. Jade Miller continues to be a constant spark at the leadoff spot in the SAU lineup as she leads the GAC in hits (43), and holds a .402 batting average. J. Miller has produced a team high 22 RBI and has crossed home plate 27 times which leads SAU, while also ranking second in the conference in home runs with a team leading nine. Millers 43 hits is tied for 12^th in NCAA DII while her nine home runs are tied for 17^th.

Alese Casper ranks second on the team with 24 hits and second with 20 runs scored, to go along with seven RBI. Jaxynn Dyson ranks third with 23 hits and has shown off her power in recent weeks with six bombs, to go along with 16 RBI and 15 runs scored.

Tiare Lee has collected 17 hits, 16 RBI and has hit three home runs in 14 games played and hold a .405 batting average. Gracie King (11 RBI) and Madison Miller (11 RBI) have also done a good job of producing runs and showing off their power as King as three home runs while M. Miller has two. The Muleriders rank second in the GAC with 34 home runs.

SOSU is batting .294 as a team and have been outscored 149-148 on the year. The Savage Storm have two players with 30 or more hits as Cheyenne Mahy leads the team with 35 hits and drove in 22 runs, while Peyton Streetman has 34 hits. Kamarie Wallace leads the team in RBI (25) and home runs (4) to go along with 25 hits.

The Savage Storm pitching staff hold a 5.01 ERA. Both Amberlyn Walsworth and Mahy have nine wins on the season. Walsworth holds a 4.63 ERA and has struck out 110 batters in 114.2 innings of work while allowing 139 hits on 83 runs (59 earned). Mahy has thrown 92.2 innings and carries a 5.05 ERA to go along with 75 strikeouts while allowing 55 runs (52 earned).

You can find live links for this weekend's series here.