Autumn Suydam, another prominent player in her prime, begins her second season at Southern Arkansas as a graduate assistant after spending four years of her collegiate career at GAC-Rival East Central University. In her first year, Suydam worked with the SAU hitters/position players and will continue that role in 2018.
Offensivley, Sudam provided instruction for a Lady Mulerider offense that finished the season with the second-highest team batting average in the Great American Conference at .312. Southern Arkansas led the league in slugging percentage (.533), on-base percentage (.412), runs scored (416), RBI (381), home runs (95), total bases (929), and walks (243).
Suydam was a starter all four years for the Tigers, and swung a consistent bat with an average over .340 every year.
In her career, Suydam received recognition for not only her performance on the field, but also in the classroom. In her senior season, she was named to the Academic All-America First-Team with a 4.0 GPA while pursuing a B.A. in Criminal Justice. Additionally, the Academic All-American was named the Great American Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the year in 2016, as well as the Central Regional Scholar-Athlete of the year.
Aside from Suydam’s academic accolades, she helped lead her team to it’s first-ever GAC Championship in 2015. In that year, Suydam would hit a career-high .423 with 63 hits and 20 RBI’s. As a senior, Suydam would go out with a bang as she had yet another phenomenal year at the plate hitting .396 with 61 hits, 24 RBI’s, and a .526 slugging percentage.
Suydam came out in the top-two of her team in batting average her last three years as a Tiger, leading the team her senior year. To add to her offensive success, she also was a speedster on the base paths with 84 career stolen bases, ranking 42 nationally as a freshman.Â
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