RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Coming off their opening weekend of GAC play, the Arkansas Tech softball team prepares for a tough conference battle against Southern Arkansas at home in a three-game series this weekend. The series will still begin on Friday at Chartwells Women's Sports Complex , but with a doubleheader while Saturday's game will be the lone single game of the series. Friday's doubleheader is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch, while the final game of the series on Saturday is set for a noon first pitch.
SCOUTING THE MULERIDERS
Southern Arkansas enters this weekend's conference matchup at 10-8 overall with a 3-0 record in GAC play and are coming off a series sweep of Southwestern Oklahoma State.
As a team, the Muleriders are hitting .254 so far this season (126-for-496) with 64 runs scored, 20 doubles, 5 triples and 18 homeruns. Entering this weekend, the Muleriders currently have a pair of hitters hitting .300 or better and are led by Jade Miller with a .406 average (28-for-69).
In terms of power numbers, Southern Arkansas has six players with at least one homerun and are led by Miller with five homeruns. Sarah Evans and Jaxynn Dyson are next on the list with four homers each. Tiare Lee, Emma Gill and Uchenna Jong Loy account for the rest of the long bombs for SAU. Evans leads the team in RBI's with 13, while Miller follows close behind with 11 on the season.
In the circle, the Muleriders have a 1.83 team ERA and have struckout 129 batters in 126.1 innings of work.
Four total pitchers have made an appearance so far this season for Southern Arkansas. Sydney Ward has started 10 games, while Kiana Pogroszewski and Macie Welch have started three games each. Baylie Thornhill closes out the list of pitchers with two total starts so far this season. Ward is 5-3 with a 1.49 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts with 46 in 51.2 innings. Pogroszewski is 4-1 and owns the team best ERA at 1.44 and has struckout 42 batters in 39.0 innings of work.
TECH TIDBITS
The Golden Suns enter this weekend's matchup against the Muleriders at 10-9 overall with a 1-2 record among conference opponents and are coming off a tough 1-2 series loss at East Central last weekend.
Offensively, the Golden Suns are hitting .286 as a team this season (144-for-504) with 114 runs scored, 30 doubles, two triples and 30 homeruns. Entering this weekend, the Golden Suns have five batters with at least 30 at-bats hitting .300 or better and are currently led by
Tymber Riley's .475 average (28-for-59).
In terms of power numbers, the Golden Suns have 10 players who have notched a homerun this season. Riley is currently the leader in homeruns on the team with seven, while
Caitlyn Wells follows close behind with six bombs.
Holly Crutchfield has hit five,
Shelby Chavers has hit four and
Makenzie Goins has crushed three to close out the leaders in homers so far this season. For total RBI's, Riley and Wells are the team leaders with 22 and 21, respectively.
In the circle, the Golden Suns have a 2.96 team ERA and have struckout 117 batters in 123.0 innings of work.
Eight total pitchers have made at least one appearance for the Golden Suns so far this season.
Bailey Buffington and
Maddy Prough have started six games each, while
Shannon Lasey has started seven games. Buffington is 4-3 with with the team leading ERA at 1.60 and has 32 strikeouts in 35.0 innings. Prough is 3-3 and owns a 3.14 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts with 34 in 35.2 innings of work. Lasey is 3-3 with a 3.80 ERA and has struckout 29 batters in 27.2 innings. Against East Central last weekend, Lasey threw the sixth perfect game in program history leading the Golden Suns to a 6-0 victory over the Tigers.
In relief, the Golden Suns have notched a pair of saves from Prough and Lasey.
