CARY, N.C. – Southern Arkansas Baseball's focus moves to Monday and the Muleriders (47-11) are looking to carry Saturday's momentum from a 3-1 tournament-opening win over (6) Rollins into the winner's bracket affair against (2) Point Loma (49-8) from beautiful Coleman Field inside the USA Baseball National Training Complex. It will be the first meeting all-time between the two schools that are nearly 1,600 miles apart. The Sea Lions put away (7) Illinois-Springfield 8-1 in its opener. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. Magnolia, Ark. time) and additional live coverage links including live stats and the Hall of Famer Dan Gregory's KVMZ 99.1 radio broadcast are available at
www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
SAU recorded five hits in the tournament opener three of which came with two outs in the bottom of the second inning with the biggest of the trio being the three-run hammer from junior
Conner Allen that staked Mulerider ace
Jeremy Adorno to a 3-0 advantage which would be more than enough for the right hander. Adorno earned his single season program record 15
th win behind his eighth compete game effort of the season as he dispersed five hits with six strikeouts to become the single season leader in punch outs.
SAU, who will serve as the home team in Monday's game, is hitting .340 this postseason paced by sophomore
Chris Lyles' .436 average and team-best 17 hits. Allen follows with a .405 average and is one of five players with three or more home runs. Senior
Tucker Burton's six homers lead the team and junior
Brett McGee follows with five. McGee's 16 RBI trail only freshman
Brandon Nicoll who has registered 21 and along with Allen trails only Lyles in the hit category with 15. McGee's 19 runs scored lead a Mulerider team that is averaging 12.6 runs per game this postseason while his 17 walks are part of a nation's best personal total in freebies with 60.
The Muleriders' pen availability for Monday's matchup will be full as Adorno's CG allowed SAU to not dip into its bullpen. Sophomore
Santos Sosa owns a 1.35 ERA this postseason in three appearances totaling 6.2 innings pitched. Sophomore
Isaiah Haynes has recorded three saves. Junior
Wyatt Marr, the probable starter for game two, is 2-0 this postseason with 11 strikeouts over 17.2 innings pitched.
Point Loma struck early against UIS with three first inning runs to take a 3-1 lead, added a single run in the second inning and then rode a strong start from Baxter Halligan who went six innings and scattered seven hits with four strikeouts. The Sea Lions added four late runs in the eighth inning and finished with 11 hits in the win.
Entering the National Championship, PLN led the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.02) and WHIP (1.11) and owned the country's best winning percentage after winning 48 of their 56 contests prior to Cary. The pitching staff's 13 shutouts are also the nation's top mark and the group's 7.50 hits allowed per nine ranked fourth nationally. Additionally, the Sea Lions' staff ERA of 3.16 was the second-lowest in the country entering this past weekend's tournament start.
As a team, PLN entered the World Series hitting .308 with 561 hits, 445 runs scored and a scoring average of 7.9 runs per game. Six everyday players hold averages above .315. Otto Kemp is swinging .355 and leads the team in hits (76), runs scored (73), home runs (16), RBI (60), slugging percentage (.645), walks (39), HBP (20) and OBP (.487).
The winner of Monday's matchup will await the team that moves through the loser's bracket on Thursday, June 9 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The loser of Monday's contest will face the winner of the (6) Rollins vs. (7) Illinois-Springfield elimination matchup on Wednesday, June 8 at 1:30 EDT.
