MAGNOLIA, Ark. - Defending Great American Conference Tournament Champion Southern Arkansas heads to Springdale as the league's tournament shifts to Northwest Arkansas where the final four teams will vye for the title and the GAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. More information on the tournament can be found at Tournament Central: #theGAC 2023 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS - Great American Conference
The Muleriders (36-16), GAC regular season champions for the seventh time in league history, bounced back from a Friday night loss to eighth-seeded Southeastern Oklahoma and won twice over the Savage Storm on Saturday to punch its ticket to Arvest Ballpark; the home of the Kansas City Royals' Double A affiliate Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
(2) Ouachita, (4) Henderson State and (6) Oklahoma Baptist join the Muleriders in Springdale. Ouachita and Henderson State won its first two contests over in-state foes Harding and Arkansas-Monticello, respectively. Oklahoma Baptist took two of three on the road at Arkansas Tech to advance.
For the fifth time this season, SAU and Henderson State will meet. First pitch between the longtime Natural State opponents is set for 1 p.m. The Reddies claimed three of the four matchups in the regular season including two of three in the GAC series played in Arkadelphia. HSU won 4-1 in the opener and used a four-run ninth inning in game two to walk off with a 6-5 win before the Muleriders responded in the finale with a victory by the same margin as SAU held off the Reddies after the host matched the visitors five-run fifth with one of their own in the bottom half. In the last ten meetings between the two sides, the series is deadlocked at 5-5.
The winner of the SAU-HSU matchup will take on the Ouachita-Oklahoma Baptist winner on Friday at 11 a.m. The losers of Thursday's action meet in the tournament's first elimination contest on Friday at 3 p.m. The Muleriders claimed three of its four matchups against the Tigers this season. SAU won 5-4 in a March midweek tilt and sandwiched its loss to Ouachita with a pair of 7-4 wins in GAC play. SAU swept Oklahoma Baptist in a trio of highly-contested matchups. The Muleriders won 9-8 on a Chris Lyles two-run walkoff blast in the opener and picked up a 9-6 victory before outlasting the Bison 14-12 in the finale.
Southern Arkansas, under the leadership of seventh-year head coach Justin Pettigrew the GAC's Coach of the Year for the third time and second straight season, enters the final weekend before Sunday's NCAA postseason selection show at No. 3 in the Central Region rankings. The Muleriders are currently the top rated GAC team in the rankings with Ouachita in at No. 4, Arkansas Tech at No. 5, Henderson State at No. 9 and Arkansas-Monticello at No. 10.
SAU begins the second stage of the GAC Tournament hitting .305 as a team and averaging 8.3 runs per game. The Muleriders carry a team ERA of 4.94 with an average of 5.2 runs surrendered per game.
The Muleriders have been led by several players this season. Brandon Nicoll, the lone unanimous first-team All-GAC selection, was joined by four other teammates that garnered all-league first team accolades. Nicoll leads the club in hits (75), RBI (67), doubles (20), triples (3), total bases (134) and slugging percentage (.650).
Brett McGee (C) and Riley Orr (SS) joined Nicoll on the first team. Orr leads the team in average (.368) and trails only McGee's 58 runs scored with 55 and his 43 walks with 37. Orr has 63 hits and 24 RBI and is 21-of-22 on stolen bases this season. McGee also leads the team in home runs with 16 and in OPS at 1.091 and has recorded 62 RBI. Both players were named to the GAC All-Defensive team and were joined by teammate center fielder Chris Lyles.
Conner Allen picked up All-GAC second team honors. Allen is hitting .307 with an OPS of 1.010. He's collected 50 hits, eight doubles, three triples and nine home runs with 40 RBI.
Three arms were honored on All-GAC teams. Ace Jeremy Adorno picked up first team honors after a 7-3 record with three complete games and 116 strikeouts in 93.0 innings pitched. Mikel Howell, the GAC Newcomer of the Year and a second team honoree, has won six games this season with 71 strikeouts in 73.0 innings pitched.
As solid as SAU has been starting games, they've been able to toss the ball to a player on the doorstep of history. All-GAC First Team relief pitcher Isaiah Haynes leads the country with a dozen saves; one back of matching the single-season program record. He owns a 1.76 ERA and an opponent batting average of .167 in 15.1 innings pitched.
The Muleriders hold four top 30 statistical rankings nationally in doubles (9th - 124), hit-by-pitch (9th - 105), walks (16th - 269), on-base percentage (24th - .425) and runs scored (26th - 434), while ranking in the top 50 in scoring (33rd - 8.3), strikeout-to-walk ratio (35th - 2.25), fielding percentage (44th - .971), hits allowed per nine (44th - 9.04), WHIP (41st - 1.44), home runs (43rd - 58), slugging percentage (40th - .499), strikeouts per nine (43rd - 8.9), sacrifice flies (46th - 27) and triples (41st - 15).
