SPRINGDALE, Ark. - Another day. Another quality outing by a Southern Arkansas starting pitcher. Mulerider right-hander Mikel Howell tossed seven strong innings of five-hit baseball with seven strikeouts to silence Oklahoma Baptist bats as SAU beat the Bison 6-1 to advance in the Great American Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon from Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
The victory sends the Muleriders (38-16) into the league's tournament title game which is scheduled for a 12 p.m. start on Saturday. SAU will meet the winner of Friday night's Oklahoma Baptist/OUA-HSU winner.
Much like Thursday's opener, the Muleriders used a profitable third inning to grab an early advantage. SAU struck for a pair of two-out runs to back Howell's start.
Following a 6-4-3 double play turned by the Bison, the second of four on the day, a double steal was executed by the Muleriders that saw Riley Orr cross home after Conner Allen successfully avoided a tag on the rundown to reach second. Allen was initially called out but was adamant the tag missed and after the umpires conferred it was overturned for the game's first run.
That change in call proved beneficial for Southern Arkansas as Chris Lyles walked to extend the inning and send Will Richardson to the plate and the first baseman singled into the opposite field to chase home Allen from second and push SAU out front 2-0.
The Bison answered in the fifth with two-out run support of their own as OBU's Austin Gonzales singled to keep the inning going, while a fielding error put runners at the corners for Jayden Shafer who pushed contact through the right side for the Bison's first tally which cut the Mulerider lead in half. Howell would strand the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at first as he got Dan Pruitt to fly out to the gap in right centerfield as Lyles tracked down the contact on the warning track to end the run-scoring frame for Oklahoma Baptist.
Southern Arkansas added to its offensive output with two outs in the sixth as Chris Sutton lined a two-run homer into the home bullpen in left field to cushion the advantage for Howell. The right-hander continued to dominate as he worked a 1-2-3 frame with strikeouts of the first two batters in the inning, before his offense provided more support in the post-stretch seventh.
A ball in-play off the bat of Will Richardson with the bases loaded was thrown home errantly allowing McGee to score for a fifth run and with two outs, Chris Garcia was plunked to chase home Brandon Nicoll for a 6-1 advantage.
Jake Uber worked the eighth and ninth innings facing the minimum as he induced three groundouts and three fly outs to finish off the Bison on Friday.
Sutton, Orr, Richardson, Garcia, Nicoll and Conner Allen all recorded hits. The Muleriders took advantage of nine walks, three by McGee and two from Allen, and four hit-by-pitch. McGee finished 1-for-1 with three walks and a HBP.
