RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech baseball team suffered their first loss in Great American Conference action as they dropped the series finale with No. 10 Southern Arkansas, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon out at Baswell Field.
 
Despite the loss on Sunday, the Wonder Boys (7-5, 5-1 GAC) still claimed the series victory over the Muleriders (5-4, 3-3 GAC) thanks to their doubleheader sweep the previous day.
 
In the finale, SAU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as they scored an unearned run in the top of the first. The Muleriders added another single run in the third inning on a solo home run. An inning later, SAU doubled their lead out to 4-0 on consecutive two-out RBI hits.
 
A half inning later, the Wonder Boys notched their first hit and scored their lone run of the game on a leadoff home run by last night's walk-off hero, Evan Hafley.
 
Neither team scored in the fifth and sixth innings, but SAU added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run home run to bring the game to its eventual final of 6-1.
 
Offensively, the Wonder Boys and Muleriders totaled just nine hits combined. Tech had four of those hits. Trace Maddux paced the Wonder Boys with a pair of hits. Kandon Bennet and Hafley accounted for the other two.
 
On the mound, the Wonder Boys used five pitchers and racked up 14 strikeouts combined. Starter Riyan Rodriguez went 4.0 innings and had six strikeouts. Armando Romero was first in relief and punched out five in 2.1 innings. Shelby Quiggins was next out of the bullpen and registered three strikeouts in 1.2 innings. He also did not allow hit or run. Will Horton and Nick Kovar combined to get the three outs in the ninth. Horton got a pair of outs and allowed one hit. Kovar retired the lone batter he faced.
 
The Wonder Boys will now prepare to hit the road next weekend and face another tough conference test as they will travel to Monticello to take on UAM. The three-game series is scheduled to start on Friday, March 12 at 2 p.m.