MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Junior Conner Allen cranked a mammoth two-run blast with two gone in the home half of the eighth inning, the fourth go-ahead home run by the Muleriders in their final at bat this NCAA postseason, and the junior outfielder gazed as his shot easily vacated Walker Stadium at Goodheart Field out to left centerfield to give #8 Southern Arkansas a late 8-6 lead which would hold in an 8-7 victory on Friday evening in game one of the NCAA Division II Central Super Regional. It's now the Muleriders that have their sights set on history as a win on Saturday would send the program to the DII Baseball Championship in Cary, North Carolina for the first time ever in its 26-year NCAA history and to a final championship site for the first time since a trip to the 1991 NAIA World Series.
 
First pitch for game two of the best-of-3 series is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday with the if-necessary game to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
 
Augustana (47-12-1) jumped out early with three runs in the top of the first off of Southern Arkansas (45-11) ace Jeremy Adorno. The freshman right hander was tabbed to his second straight no decision, but he employed a gritty seven-inning effort which allowed SAU to toss the ball to sophomore reliever Santos Sosa in the eighth.
 
The Muleriders recorded just six hits in the win, but every one of the half dozen knocks were timely and welcomed by a vast majority of the standing room only crowd of nearly 900. The first hit exited the yard as freshman Brandon Nicoll's two-run home run, his 14^th of the season, preceded Allen's in nearly the same part of the ballpark and cut into SAU's early deficit to make it 3-2 after one.
 
That was the first of four extra base hits by Southern Arkansas in the win. The second came courtesy of senior Tucker Burton who's first of two doubles on the night led off the second inning and jump started a three-run frame that also included a single from junior Riley Orr that loaded the bases, RBI walks by sophomore Chris Sutton and junior Brett McGee and an RBI ground out by Nicoll.
 
Vikings starter Ryan Jares entered the affair having issued only 14 walks in 79.2 innings, but allowed four as he recorded just four outs before being pulled with one out in the second after the Muleriders, the nation's leader in walks drawn, utilized the free pass to take its first lead of the night at 5-4, which answered a single two-out run by Augie in the top part of the inning.
 
Adorno settled in in the third inning working a 1-2-3 frame highlighted by a 6-4-3 double play. He tossed around a two-out double in the fourth and a two-out hit-by-pitch in the fifth before running into trouble again in the sixth. The Vikings struck for two runs, both solo home runs, in a three-hit inning to retake the lead at 6-5. In the seventh, Adorno worked around a leadoff walk to keep Augie off the board, while Southern Arkansas took advantage of a leadoff walk in the post-stretch seventh that knotted the game at 6-6.
 
Orr drew a free pass and with one out in the inning swiped second before moving to third on a wild pitch. It was beneficial base-moving for the Muleriders as Nicoll plated the former with a sacrifice fly out to centerfield, his fourth RBI of the game, to tie the game at six.
 
Sosa made quick work of the first two Vikings batters to the plate in the eighth, while a two-out single was erased at second on a fielder's choice to close out the frame and set the stage for Allen's heroics.
 
Augustana threatened in the ninth with a leadoff single and a walk, but a well-played groundball to Orr was taken by the all-region shortstop to the bag at second and then fired over to freshman Jakob Machuca at first for the 6-3 double play. The Vikings would manage to place the game's tying run at second before Sosa fanned Jaxon Rosencranz swinging to end the threat.  
 
Both of Burton's hits were doubles. Nicoll and Allen each delivered a blast which runs SAU's team-record long ball total to 108; the only team in program history to eclipse the century mark in home runs in a single season. Burton, Allen and Orr all scored twice. Nicoll delivered four RBI to become just the fourth player in program history to record 80 RBI in a single season and the first to accomplish the feat since the 2010 season. McGee walked three times to claim the single season base on balls record and become the first player in program history to record 60 free passes in a campaign.