MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Mulerider Baseball team (18-8, 11-4 GAC) will play host to the Oklahoma Baptist Bison (14-11, 8-7 GAC) this upcoming weekend in week six of conference play. Going into the halfway point, the Muleriders search for a way to overtake the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys (19-9, 12-3 GAC) in conference standings. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 25 with game two following 20 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The teams will wrap up action at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Live coverage links will be available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
Southern Arkansas Notes
Recent Riders: Southern Arkansas completed a series sweep of Southern Nazarene last weekend that saw a combined 40 Mulerider runs between the three games. Tuesday proved a tougher challenge as SAU dropped their midweek 4-1 to the Henderson State Reddies.
In the Polls: The Muleriders have remained ranked in the NCBWA D2 Top 25 since the preseason poll came out. The team most recently made the jump from 14th place to 11th, knocking on the door of a single digit ranking. SAU holds stead at number 9 in the College Baseball Newspaper rankings.
Dig the Grave, that Balls a Goner: Mulerider home run leader Brett McGee has seen a long ball hot streak recently. The senior has homered four times in the Muleriders' last three games and six times in the last six games. The Pittsburg, Texas native has homered multiple times in the same game twice this season. His .670 slugging percentage leads the Muleriders and McGee has reached base safely in all but three of SAU's 26 games to stand as one of two Muleriders to post an on base percentage higher than .500 (.504).
Muleriders vs. Bison: The last four regular season matchups between the GAC teams have seen Southern Arkansas take two of three from Oklahoma Baptist. The teams split the day one double header last year in Shawnee with the Bison taking game one 12-3. Southern Arkansas claimed game two 7-4 and secured the series win on day two with a 3-1 victory. The game one loss saw Brett McGee, who is currently on a home run hot streak, homer to score two in the first inning. The 2022 series saw an absolute standout performance from junior Chris Sutton. Sutton went 6-11 with an extra base hit in all three games. On the mound for the Muleriders, both Jeremy Adorno and Wyatt Marr tossed complete games. Game two of the double header saw a 7.0 inning effort from Adorn where he allowed three runs and struck out 10. Wyatt Marr wrapped things up for SAU in game three, tossing a 9.0 innings that saw just a single earned run on seven hits.
Oklahoma Baptist Notes
Recent Rumblings: The Bison dropped their most recent weekend series to the UAM Weevils to represent just their second GAC series loss (Arkansas Tech). The Weevils claimed games one and two 11-7 and 9-4, but the Bison were able to salvage game three with a 3-1 victory to avoid the sweep. The Shawnee, Oklahoma team most recently went head to head with the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos on Tuesday where they suffered an 11-1 loss in seven innings.
Scouting the Herd: The Bison stand as one of four teams to post a sub .300 batting average as the Oklahoma team sits just below the mark at .299. Kade Self leads the team from the plate with a .376 average (35-93) and stands atop two additional Bison batting in the .300s. Jake Hamilton leads the Bison from the mound with a 3.31 ERA (13 ER/ 35.1 IP) with starter Brek Galbreath posting a 4.39 ERA (20 ER/ 41.0 IP) and Ryan Turbeville sitting at a 7.01 ERA (20 ER/ 25.2 IP).
