MAGNOLIA, Ark. – After consecutive home weekends of Great American Conference play, #13/15 Southern Arkansas travels to Oklahoma for a three-game league series with Oklahoma Baptist. The action commences on Friday with a doubleheader set for a 4 p.m. start and concludes with Saturday's finale set for 1 p.m. Live coverage links are available at www.MuleriderAthletics.com.
The Muleriders (19-7, 12-3 GAC) are coming off of a 9-1 midweek win at Henderson State. SAU enters the sixth league series of the spring atop the GAC standings. Southern Arkansas boasts a 9-1 road record, while Oklahoma Baptist (16-11, 7-8 GAC) owns a 10-4 mark at home. The Muleriders head to Oklahoma ranked #13 in the NCBWA Top 25 and #15 in the D2 Baseball Insider Top 25 poll.
SAU and OBU have met 26 times prior to Friday's opener. The Muleriders lead the series 19-7 and have won seven straight which includes the past two matchups last season in the league tournament in Springdale. Southern Arkansas is 5-4 against the Bison in Shawnee.
Southern Arkansas leads the country with five complete games and holds top 20 marks nationally in hit-by-pitch (57, 9th), walks (143, 17th), runs scored (230, 16th), home runs (35, 14th), team ERA (4.02, 20th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.07, 4th), WHIP (1.32, 16th) and walks allowed per nine (3.07, 12th). The Muleriders lead the GAC in BBs, CGs, HBP, runs scored, on-base percentage (.430), runs per game (8.8), K-to-BB ratio, triples (8), WHIP and walks allowed per nine.
Grant Roosma leads the GAC with a top 15 mark nationally in walks (25) and along with Chris Sutton the pair are both fourth in the GAC in HBP with four. Roosma leads the team in OBP at .513; the fourth-highest in the GAC. Will Richardson's 37 hits are the third-most in the GAC and Brandon Nicoll's eight home runs are the third-most. Both players rank inside the league's top five in RBI with a collective 66. Nicoll, along with Roosma and Trace Shoup, rank in the GAC's top five in runs scored. Tim Ruffino's 6.50 K-to-BB ratio ranks second in the GAC and 22nd nationally. Ruffino's 2.05 ERA leads the conference and his 1.08 WHIP ranks third. Mikel Howell follows with a 1.14 WHIP which ranks fifth. Jeremy Adorno ranks sixth in DII and paces the league with 53 strikeouts. His 11.93 strikeouts per nine rank second in the GAC.
Oklahoma Baptist enters the weekend following a midweek win over Pittsburg State. OBU leads the GAC in batting average (.319), hits (276), home runs (42) and slugging percentage (.539). The Bison's 6.58 ERA ranks ninth in the GAC as does the staff's 1.81 WHIP.
Isiah Lissade leads the league in average at .411, in hits with 44 and in runs scored with 32. Alex Schroeder follows with the league's fifth-most hits with 36 and leads the GAC in home runs with nine and in RBI with 38. Nolan Feazle leads with a 3.95 ERA and Brek Galbreath is tops with 34 strikeouts.
