MAGNOLIA, Ark. – For the final time this season, the Southern Arkansas University softball will play on their home field as they are set to host the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison in a three game Great American Conference series. The series will get started on Friday afternoon with a double header at 3:00 p.m. and wrap up on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. Seven SAU Seniors will be honored for Senior Day prior to Saturday's first pitch.
The Muleriders come into this series with a 26-13 overall record and league best (19-5 GAC) mark. The Bison are 27-18 (13-11 GAC) and currently sit in 5
th place in the GAC.
SAU is coming off of a series win against Harding last weekend. After dropping the first game of the series 2-0, the Muleriders were able to come out on Saturday and sweep the Bisons (5-3, 4-3).
Jason Anderson's squad has now won seven of their eight GAC series after picking up a win over Monticello on Tuesday afternoon 9-3 and have three more remaining this season.
The Bison have won their last six games, which includes a GAC sweep over Northwestern Oklahoma State University last weekend and a Sweep over Texas Women's University this past Wednesday. OKBU has picked up four GAC series wins, and four GAC series losses. The Bison's picked up series wins over NWOSU, Southeastern Oklahoma State, East Central and Ouachita Baptist.
SAU's season average has continued to rise as they are now hitting .281 as a team.
Jade Miller has the highest average on the team as she is hitting .407, to go along with her team leading 57 hits. The Muleriders have four players batting .300 or higher, as
Tiare Lee is second on the team with a .343 avg, followed by
Jaxynn Dyson (.311),
Madison Miller (.304) and
Alese Casper (.303).
Seven Muleriders have recorded 20+ hits this season, while, four have 20+ RBI. Dyson is second on the team behind J. Miller's 57 with 37 hits, followed by Casper with 36. M. Miller has collected 28 base knocks, followed by Lee (24) and
Mariah Hamilton and
Taylor Murphy who both have 21. Dyson leads SAU with 30 RBI, followed by Lee (26), J. Miller (24) and M. Miller (21).
J. Miller still holds the team lead in home runs with nine, followed by Dyson with eight. Lee and
Sarah Evans both have six bombs, while M. Miller has four.
The Muleriders have let to allow 100 total runs this season as they are outscoring opponents 188-98. J. Miller has scored 36 of those runs, while Casper has crossed home plate 30 times. Dyson has scored 20 runs, followed by Lee (16), M. Miller (15) and
Gracie King (14).
Sydney Ward picked up wins in both of her last two outings to push her record to 12-3 and carries a 2.09 ERA. Ward has tossed 93.2 innings, and has struck out 90 batters. She has allowed 34 runs (28 earned) on 74 hits.
Kiana Pogroszewski leads the team with 96.1 innings in the circle to go along with her team leading 1.45 ERA. KP also leads the staff in strikeouts with 94. Pogroszewski has allowed 28 runs (20 earned) on 73 hits.
Baylie Thornhill picked up her second career win against HU to move her record to 2-2. The Grad Transfer has made 12 appearances and carries a 1.57 ERA, as she has struck out 38 batters and allowed 11 runs (eight earned) on 32 hits.
OKBU comes into the weekend hitting .257 as a team. The Bison have been led by Samantha Campos who leads the team with 42 hits. Jocee Sparks has collected 40 hits, followed by Adi Reese with 37. Sparks leads the Bison with 36 RBI and nine home runs, followed by Campos with 25 RBI and five home runs. Reese leads the team with 29 runs.
Kayleigh Jones has been the main arm in the circle for OKBU as she has a 17-10 record with a 169.0 innings. She has struck out a whopping 246 batters. Aspen Younce holds a 10-6 record with 109.0 innings pitched.
The six seniors that will be honored prior to Saturday's game will include Casper, Evans, Lee, J. Miller, M. Miller,
Madison Monson and
Taylor Murphy. You can find live links to this weekend's series
here.
