MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The #11/14 Southern Arkansas University baseball team will head to Hot Springs this weekend as they are set to compete in the Great American Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning the program's sixth GAC regular season title. The Muleriders 37-11 (27-6 GAC) will take on the No. 8 seed in Arkansas Tech University 25-21 (15-17 GAC) at 12:40 p.m. on Saturday in their first round matchup at Majestic Park. The tournament will span four days with the championship game on Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

SAU won the regular season GAC series over ATU as they swept them in three games in early March by a score of 12-0, 8-7, and 7-6. The Wonder Boys were however able to take a contest from the Muleriders in a non-conference midweek matchup at the end of March as they won 11-8. The winner of tomorrow's first round matchup will take on the winner of Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Ouachita Baptist on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m.

The Muleriders finished the year with a .311 team batting average as they outhit their opponents 483-365. SAU outscored their opponents 465-220 on the season. The Muleriders had seven players with a .300 batting average or better, as Riley Orr led the team with a .376 average which was the ninth best mark in the GAC. Ty Manning was second on the team with a .344 average, followed by Jakob Machuca with a .336 average. Brandon Nicoll finished with a .330 average, while Chris Sutton hit .327 in the regular season. Chris Lyles (.325) and Tucker Burton (.313) round out SAU's .300+ hitters.

Nicoll, the first year third baseman out of Galveston Community College led head coach Justin Pettigrew's squad in hits (67), RBI (60), total bases (120), doubles (21), while also finishing second in runs with 58, and third in home runs with 10. Nicoll's 21 doubles lead the GAC, while his 67 hits rank fifth in the GAC. Sutton finished with the team lead in runs scored with 62, while finishing second on the squad in hits with 53, walks (41).

Manning finished third on the team in both hits (53) and runs (53), while he led the team in stolen bags, as the outfielder swiped 21. Manning and Sutton are tied for second on the team with 20 hit by pitches. Burton finished with the team lead in home runs with 14, to go along with 52 hits, 52 RBI, and 40 runs scored, while also drawing 38 base on balls. The DH also led the team in Ops with a 1.077 and ranked second with a slugging percentage of .620 among players that have 10 or more starts on the year.

In addition to holding the team lead in batting average, Orr finished with 50 hits, 45 RBI, and 49 runs, while also connecting on six bombs. McGee finished second on the team with 58 RBI and 11 home runs. The catcher collected 46 base knocks, while also holding the team lead in walks (43) and hit by pitches (23). Machuca led the team in slugging percentage among players with 10 or more starts with a .642. The lengthy outfielder finished the regular season with 46 hits, nine home runs and 32 RBI.

The Mulerider starting pitching staff of Jeremy Adorno (13-0), Wyatt Marr (7-1), and Jacob Womack (6-2) combined for a 26-3 record and combined for 247 strikeouts during the regular season. Adorno finished the year with a .216 ERA which leads the starting group and the GAC starters. The freshman sensation also led the team and conference in strikeouts (119), innings pitched (87.2), wins (13), batters struck out looking (39), lowest amount of runs allowed (23), lowest amount of earned runs (21), lowest amount of home runs allowed (2) opponent batting average (.178) and complete games (7). Adorno's 13 wins is the most in NCAA DII, while his 119 strikeouts ranks second amongst NCAA DII players. Marr finished tied for 4^th in the GAC with seven wins, while his 3.93 ERA was good for 7^th best in the league. Womack finished with 4^th most strikeouts in the GAC and second on the team with 81, and second on the team in innings pitched with 67.1, while Marr saw 66.1 innings of action for the third most innings on the squad.

Jack Liddell saw the most innings out of the pen for the Muleriders as he made 13 appearances and four starts to total 27.1 innings pitched. The Canadian finished with year with a 3-2 record while also collecting one save. Chance Bolter collected two wins out of the pen as he finished the regular season 2-0 in nine appearances while recording a 1.00 ERA. He allowed one run on nine hits. Reed Osborn also finished the year with a 2-0 record out of the pen as he appeared in six games totaling 9.2 innings. Parker Abrego finished with a solid 1.53 ERA in 17.2 innings of work out of the pen to go along with a 1-0 record in nine appearances, while collecting the most strikeouts among relievers with 24. As a staff, the Muleriders carry a 4.52 ERA.

The Wonder Boys come into this weekend's tournament hitting .292 as a team. ATU has been outhit 432-430 on the season, while they have outscored their opponents 292-278. ATU is led by Yadier Medina who led the team in hits (54), and batting average .380. Evan Hafley leads the team in RBI with 35, and ranks second in hits with 53. Shelby Quiggings (12) and Josh Detweiler (10) lead the team in home runs.

The ATU pitching staff holds an era of 6.00. Patrick Miner was ATU's top dog as he led the team in wins (7-3), innings pitched (88.2) and strikeouts (84). Shane Scott is second in the team with a 4-4 record, and in innings pitched (56.2), while ranking third on the team with 46 strikeouts. Will Horton ranks second with 48 strikeouts and third in innings pitched with 53.2.

You can find live links to this weekend's tournament here.