MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The #16 Southern Arkansas University Softball team (20-7, 8-3 GAC) will play host to the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm (15-12, 4-6 GAC) this weekend for a three-game weekend series at the Margaret Downing Softball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for Friday, March 17 at 4 p.m. Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
Southern Arkansas Notes
Recent Riders: The Muleriders are currently on a five-game winning streak after completing a series sweep of the Henderson State Reddies last weekend and taking two from UAM in a midweek matchup earlier this week. In the conference series last weekend, Southern Arkansas saw 19 runs versus HSU's two. The Reddies rank half a game ahead of the Crimson Storm who is ninth in the Great American Conference. Ariana Rolle is currently on a five-game hitting streak that has seen eight hits since March 7.
It's Miller Time: Alyssa Miller leads team batting average at .400 (34-85) that improved following a three-hit day last weekend in the final game against the Reddies. Miller's BA ranks in the top ten in the conference as well as her 36 hits that rank second. Miller posts the second-best on base percentage (.446) behind Jaxynn Dyson. She stands as one of two batters in the conference to have recorded a five-hit game this season.
In the Circle: Sydney Ward has struck out the second most batters (78) in the conference and ranks second, just above teammate Baylie Thornhill (22), with 23 batters struck out looking. Thornhill ranks fourth nationally with the three saves she has picked up thus far. Ward is holding batters for the fifth-lowest batting average in the GAC (.212) and has picked up the second-most wins (11).
Lucky Number 3: The Southern Arkansas batters as well as pitching staff both rank third in the conference with their respective headlining stat (Avg/ERA). The Muleriders are batting .305 (236-774) and stand as one of just three teams batting over .300. Despite their batting average ranking third, SAU's .499 slugging percentage and .388 on base percentage are the highest of the 12 Great American Conference teams. The Mulerider pitchers combine for a 2.74 ERA (74 ER/ 189.0 IP) which stands as one of five to be sub-3.00, and are additionally holding batters to the fourth-lowest average (.256, 185-724) in the league.
Muleriders vs. Crimson Storm: The Muleriders are 5-1 against the Storm since the 2019 season. The last time SAU hosted SNU in Magnolia was in 2019 where they completed a series sweep (7-1, 11-3 (5), 4-0). Last season in Bethany, Southern Nazarene took game one from the Muleriders by just a single run (3-2), but SAU bounced back to claim the series with 8-2 and 10-8 wins. Last season, King hit .33 against the Storm with two of her four hits on the weekend going yard. Sydney Ward and Baylie Thornhill both made two appearances against SNU last season. Ward's first appearance saw her go 6.0 innings where she allowed one run in five hits and four walks. Day two featured a 1.0 innings appearance that saw three runs on 1.0 innings. Thornhill allowed 2 runs in her 1.2 innings of work against SNU in the Storm's day one win over SAU. She turned around to toss 3.0 relief innings the following day that saw one run on four hits with three strikeouts.
Southern Nazarene Notes
Scouting the Storm: Southern Nazarene picked up three wins this past week against Newman. The Jets took the first game of the Tuesday double header 4-1, but the Storm bounced back to win game two 10-7 before sweeping the double header 8-1 and 14-2 (5) on Wednesday. SNU swept Northwestern Oklahoma 8-5, 5-1, 6-1 last weekend in their conference series. The Crimson storm has dropped weekend series to East Central and Arkansas Tech. Liana Heshiki and Hailey Evans lead the Storm bats with both ranking in the conferences top-10 with their averages. Heshiki's .389 average ranks fifth, leads the GAC with 11 doubles and is recording the seventh-best on base percentage (0.457). Evans's .371 batting average ranks 10th, has recorded the second-most RBI (28), is tied for first with seven home runs and is recording the third-best slugging percentage (.685).
In the Circle: SNU's Janie Worthington has recorded the fifth best ERA in the league (2.21), is holding opponents to just .206 and has allowed the fewest hits (22) and runs (13) in the conference through 25.2 innings of work. Olivia Hernandez has recorded the third most strikeouts (71) and is holding batters to the seventh-lowest figure in the league (.227), but has hit the most batters this season (16).
