MAGNOLIA, Ark. – It took the second pitch of freshman
Brandon Nicoll's fifth plate appearance of the night for #8/7 Southern Arkansas to put away (RV) Henderson State in Friday's Great American Conference series opener from Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field and all jokes aside…the Canadian delivered an emphatic moonshot of the two-run variety that pushed the Muleriders past the Reddies 5-4 and into the win column for the 24
th time this season.
There was no fooling around by the Muleriders (24-5, 18-1 GAC) in the ninth. In the top of the frame, junior reliever
Parker Abrego capped off a stellar 2.1 innings in relief as he worked through the 9-1-2 batters in the HSU order, while receiving defensive aid from the leatherwork efforts of junior
Riley Orr at shortstop and freshman
Jakob Machuca at first base. In the bottom half of the inning, junior
Brett McGee dropped a single into left field to leadoff the frame and set the table for Nicoll who parked his second home run of the night over the concession stand and into the Wilkins Stadium bleachers behind the left field wall to send the Friday night faithful into a frenzy.
The walk off blast, Nicoll's ninth of the campaign, bookended the Muleriders' run-producing effort as a solo blast by the first-year Mulerider opened scoring in the first inning and staked SAU starter
Jacob Womack to an early 1-0 lead. Womack operated around six hits and four walks to fan seven as he went six innings in his ninth start of the season.
HSU took a 3-1 lead into the fourth inning after scoring a triad of runs in the third on an RBI-double by Kaden Argenbright and a two-run home run by Greyson Stevens.
Southern Arkansas answered in a big way in the fourth as senior
Tucker Burton tied the game at 3-3 after he lifted a pitch from HSU starter Spencer Taack out to left field for his team-high tenth dinger of the season which plated Nicoll who led off the inning with a double; his team-leading 12
th of the year.
The Reddies regained the lead in the fifth with an RBI single and nearly had a two-run advantage had it not been for the strong arm of senior
Jacob Martinez in left field who mowed down what would have been HSU's fifth run of the night at the plate for the second out in the frame.
Freshman
Brady Johnson recorded the first two outs in a setup role prior to the stretch and Abrego entered needing just one out in the frame and managed to strand a pair of Henderson State baserunners after allowing a base hit to the first batter he faced. The right-hander then retired the remaining seven Reddie hitters he faced including four strikeouts which encompassed the side in the eighth.
The Muleriders threatened offensively in the fifth, sixth and post-stretch seventh stranding a combined seven runners in those three frames before finally breaking through in the ninth.
Nicoll went 3-for-5, totaled 11 bases and recorded three runs scored and three RBI. Junior
Ty Manning recorded two hits. SAU walked just four times and struck out only five times.
