BETHANY, Okla. — Southern Nazarene faced its biggest matchup of the season yet, hosting No. 9 Southern Arkansas for a doubleheader to open the three-game series.
The Storm (13-14, 5-9 GAC) battled the Muleriders (17-7, 10-4 GAC) well in the first game, losing by just a single run. SAU caught fire in following game, putting up 14 hits that propelled 13 runs to take the final Game 2 victory by eight total runs.
Game 1
Both teams worked through four innings without a single run run scored. Starting SNU pitcher Oliver Wilson and the Muleriders' DII Pitcher of the Year Jeremy Adorno battled it out from the bump, keeping the game at a stalled 0-0 the first hour into the ballgame. The Muleriders ended the scoring drought in the fifth inning with a single to left field, giving SAU the 1-0 lead.
Adorno kept SNU off the scoreboard and allowed his teammates to tack on three more runs in the sixth from a single and two hit-by-pitches.
The Storm challenged the Mulerider's lead in the seventh when O'Shea Whiteside doubled to right field to give Tanner Bare and Drake Irby the score, putting SNU behind 4-2.
Southern Arkansas pulled away in the ninth with a single that put them up by three with no outs. Lane Behymer gave SNU some room to turn the game around as he delivered the Muleriders third and final out of the inning.
Weston Hicks excited the crowd with a huge double to right center to give Irby the trip home and SNU was back behind two runs. Cole Embrey pushed SNU even closer to a comeback with his single that plated Noah Edmonds. Dax Edmonds was at-bat with two outs on the board, but couldn't get a hit on the ball, and SNU fell by just a single run at 5-4 to the nationally ranked Muleriders.
Game 2
The Muleriders were the first to score in Game 2 off of a flight out in the second inning, but SNU quickly tied the game in the bottom half of the inning when Cole Embrey's single sent Owen Wilson home.
The Muleriders soared in the third inning with a three-RBI homer to push their lead to 4-1, breaking out the first homerun of the afternoon. SAU faced on three more runs off of two singles, a fielder's choice, and a costly SNU error, running the score up to 7-1.
SNU cut the deficit to four runs in the fourth with a couple of hits of the bats of Whiteside and Edmonds, putting SNU behind 7-3.
In the top of the fifth, SAU looked to steal to second, but a game of pickle allowed the runner on third to steal home for a run. The Muleriders ripped a big triple good for two RBIs, bumping up their lead to 9-3.
SNU struggled to keep the Muleriders off the boards as they ballooned to a 10-run lead in the sixth, kickstarted by a bomb over to right field. SNU stopped the bleeding a bit in the bottom half of the inning when Dax Edmonds homered to left field that also scored Cole Embrey for the 13-5 trail.
In the final inning, Southern Nazarene held up on the defensive end, keeping the Muleriders at 13 runs. The Storm were unable to erase the deficit in the final inning and let the Muleriders have the 13-5 victory.
Southern Nazarene will have one final shot at SAU on Saturday for a single game at 1 p.m.
