SHAWNEE, Okla. - It wasn't Southern Arkansas' weekend at the ballpark. The Muleriders dropped all three of its league tilts at Oklahoma Baptist as the Bison won 4-3 and 8-2 on Friday before sweeping SAU with a 6-4 victory in the finale. The Great American Conference sweep is the first suffered by the Muleriders since a mid-April series against Southeastern Oklahoma in 2016.
In the final contest of the weekend, the Muleriders (19-10, 12-6 GAC) recorded nine hits of which four went for extra bases. Chris Lyles doubled as did Carter Claerhout who's two-bagger plated a run in the fourth. Grant Roosma and Brandon Nicoll both homered in the eighth for SAU. Four pitchers tossed for SAU with Tim Ruffino recording 4.1 innings in a start. He threw around seven hits and two walks to allow two runs with four strikeouts. Hayden Oglesby, Hayden Hable and Sean Sieve worked the final 3.2 innings.
SAU struck first, answered two runs by the Bison in the third with Claerhout's double, but a four-run sixth inning from Oklahoma Baptist pushed the host out front 6-2.
In Friday's action, the Muleriders dropped a 4-3 contest in the series opener and were limited offensively in the nightcap to drop the series to the Bison. Game one saw Mikey McGinnis homer with one on to give SAU a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning, but an RBI single by the Bison in the home half of the frame tied it and two more run-scoring singles in the sixth gave the host a lead that they would not relinquish.
Jeremy Adorno (3-3) tossed 7.1 innings allowing seven hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Austin Adair and Hayden Hable worked a third of an inning each to close out the eighth inning stranding a pair.
Game two saw the Bison jump out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and second innings before answering a Grant Roosma sacrifice fly in the third with a two-run showing in the home half. An RBI-single by Brandon Nicoll in the top of the fifth pushed across the Muleriders' second run. A three-run OBU sixth provided enough distance for the Bison in the seventh-inning affair.
Mikel Howell pitched 5.1 innings allowing seven earned runs behind ten hits and two walks. Adair worked the final two outs of the sixth. The league's top offense in several categories managed just three extra base hits of the 19 total knocks collected across the 16 innings. SAU stranded nine base runners in game two.