MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The 21^st ranked Muleriders begin Great American Conference play this weekend following the early season non-conference stint in which Southern Arkansas prevailed through to become 9-4 overall with losses to squads such as vote receiving Texas A&M-Kingsville, vote receiving Washburn, No. 8 UT-Tyler, and No. 12 Central Oklahoma. The Muleriders are set for their conference season opener against the East Central Tigers for a single game on Friday at 4:00 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon.
 
The pitching room for the Muleriders continues to impress in times of need as this last weekend saw sophomore Corie Byrd enter the bottom of the sixth inning down 2-3 to shutdown then No. 8 Rogers State for the remainder of the ballgame and assisted Southern Arkansas in securing their ninth victory by a final of 5-3 in eight innings.
 
Sydney Ward finished the weekend having played a complete game against Fort Hays State and the majority of the ballgame versus the Hillcats while having allowed just four runs in her last 13 innings played. Ward has surrendered six hits in each of the last couple of games, but has allowed no more than three runs in either contest.
 
For the entire pitching staff, Southern Arkansas has accumulated a 2.83 ERA (2^nd GAC) while having surrendered 74 hits and 42 runs. The Muleriders have struck out 82 batters off of 327 total at-bats and only allowing 18 extra base hits.
 
Regan Dillon continues to lead the Muleriders in hitting percentage as she averages a .419 with 18 hits off of her 43 total at-bats. The sophomore standout has been accounting for a .977 slugging percentage (1^st GAC | 34^th nationally) after having recorded 42 total bases (1^st GAC | 7^th nationally). Dillon also leads the league in doubles, in which she is responsible for six (16^th nationally). The native of Bryant, Arkansas ranks third in the country and first in the region in homeruns after tallying six bombs thus far.
 
The Muleriders accounted for a .281 batting average on 342 at-bats while scoring 67 runs and recording 96 hits. The group is responsible for 41 extra base hits (23 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR) and has touched 170 total bases while also accounting for 63 runners batted in home.
 
East Central (7-6 | 0-0 GAC)
 
The Tigers of East Central University enter conference play having played non-league competition such as Newman, Midwestern State, Emporia State, Southwest Baptist, William Jewell College (Mo.), Missouri S&T, Nebraska-Kearney, then No. 11 Central Oklahoma, Fort Hays State, and Northeastern State.
 
The Muleriders and the Tigers meet for the 45^th time since becoming members of the Great American Conference. Southern Arkansas leads the series 36-9 and has won the last 16 meetings against East Central.
 
East Central pitcher, Taylor Spence, ranks 16^th among the nation and first in Great American Conference in complete games as she has pitched four complete contests thus far. Caton Muncy ranks third in the league for doubles as she has recorded five doubles in their first 13 outings. Third in the conference for homeruns is ECU's Megan Lasko as she has accounted for three in non-conference play.
 
As at team, the Tigers rank first in the conference in double plays as they have accumulated six thus far and sit at ninth in the country in the category. East Central, among the GAC, ranks second in double plays per game as they average 0.46 per contest. The Tigers are third in the league for getting hit by pitches after having eight pitches hit East Central batters.
 
ECU has been known to sacrifice batters while bunting fairly often as they have sacrificed 14 bunters in 13 games and rank first in the GAC in the feat while sitting at eighth in the nation and just six behind country-leading Lincoln Memorial.
 
The East Central batting club is ninth in the conference as they have averaged scoring 4.31 runs per bout while also ranking the same in batting average with as they've connected on 26.2% of their 370 at-bats.
 
The Tigers have allowed an average of 3.73 earned runs surrendered per contest and ranks them at seventh among the conference in that category. The ECU pitching staff has granted just four homeruns in 2024 while also just giving up 14 two-baggers to batters. East Central has allowed 100 total and 82 singles. While the Tigers have surrendered many hits, specifically singles, their fielding percentage is third among the conference at .973.
 
The road to Bentonville, Arkansas starts in Magnolia for the Muleriders as conference play opens up Friday at Dawson Field at the Margaret Downing Softball Complex. For live coverage on the upcoming events, check out www.MuleriderAthletics.com/coverage