RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas Tech will take on No. 14 Southern Arkansas this weekend in the Golden Suns' final four road games of the regular season. Tech and SAU begin play in Magnolia with a doubleheader set for 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 23, followed by a noon doubleheader on Monday.
 
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Live video and statistics for all four games of the Great American Conference series are available at www.arkansastechsports.com.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Arkansas Tech leads the all-time series against Southern Arkansas, 28-24. The Lady Muleriders won four of six meetings last season, however, including two wins over the Suns in the NCAA Central Super Regional Championship.
 
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN SUNS
Arkansas Tech (30-18, 24-12 GAC) enters the series after splitting a midweek doubleheader with No. 2 Harding on Tuesday. The Suns handed Harding its first home loss of the season in the first game, but fell 2-1 after allowing two unearned runs in game two. Tech currently sits in fourth in the GAC standings and has clinched a spot in the 2017 GAC Softball Tournament Championships.
 
The Golden Suns are hitting .271 as a team this season, fifth-best in the GAC. In the last 10 games, Jalissa Gum has hit .379, while Gaby Vasquez has posted a .375 average and a team-high .516 on-base percentage. Janie Knowles has hit two home runs and batted in six runs while hitting .333 during the same span.
 
In Tuesday's doubleheader in Searcy, Gum and Cara Tolar both pitched complete games and held the GAC-leader in team batting average to hit a combined .174. Gum allowed just three hits and one run in seven innings to earn her 14^th win of the season. Tolar took the loss in the game two, despite 6.1 innings without allowing an earned run. As a team, the Suns rank second in the GAC and 15^th in Division II in earned-run average, and Tech also has the third-best fielding percentage in the nation. With nine strikeouts against Harding on Tuesday, Gum set a new program single-season record, breaking her own mark of 267 strikeouts last season.
 
SCOUTING THE LADY MULERIDERS
Southern Arkansas (36-12, 26-10 GAC) is coming off a two-game split with Arkansas-Monticello on Tuesday, after dropping four games to Harding last weekend. The Lady Muleriders have lost six of their last seven games and are just two games ahead of Tech in the GAC standings.
 
The Lady Muleriders have hit .315 this season, while SAU leads the GAC in 10 offensive categories, including slugging, runs scored, home runs and runs batted in. Southern Arkansas ranks third in Division II in home runs per game, while Maddie Dow leads the nation with 20 home runs this season. Dow is hitting a team-high .408, while Jill Roye has a .401 batting average. Brooke Goad leads the GAC with 15 doubles and ranks second in the conference with 14 home runs.
 
SAU's 1.78 ERA ranks third in the GAC, just behind Arkansas Tech. Kaylee Garner leads the Lady Muleriders with a .157 earned-run average and has a 17-1 record in 24 appearances this season. Victoria Taylor has a 1.89 ERA, and Taylor has struck out a team-high 148 batters in 137 innings.