Southern Arkansas knocks off Ouachita Baptist 18-4

ARKADELPHIA - Ouachita Tiger baseball team came up short on Tuesday afternoon with an 18-4 loss to Southern Arkansas.

Ouachita Baptist (10-29, 6-17 GAC) hung with one of the top teams in the Great American Conference for most of the game.

The Southern Arkansas (2511, 17-7 GAC) offense was held quiet for the majority of the first few innings.

The two teams were deadlocked at 2-all going into the fifth inning and then the Muleriders took over the game.

Trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, the Tigers offense came alive.

Aaron Studdard singled to left field to start the inning.

One batter later, Jakahari Howell singled to left to put runners on first and second for Ouachita Baptist.

Freshman Tyler Riebock then drove in the first run for the Tigers.

Riebock's RBI was his team-leading 29th of the year. Moments later Kyle Alexander tied the game at two with a sacrifice fly to right field.

The game remained tied at two until the top of the fifth inning.

Dakota Wright took a 1-1 pitch and hit a grand slam over the left-field wall.

In the top of the sixth inning, Southern Arkansas scored eight runs off six hits to take a 14-2 lead.

The Tigers roared back in the bottom of the sixth with Austin White and Victor Draijer each scoring on an error.

Wright hit another homer in the top of the seventh inning, making the score 16-4.

The Muleriders tacked on another two runs before the inning was over.

White led the Tigers offense going 2-for-4 in the game.

Ben Miller was tabbed with the loss for Ouachita after throwing five complete innings.

Wright led the Muleriders with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate.

The junior had six RBIs in the contest off two home runs.

Jacob Richardson drove in four runs for the Muleriders, while Cortland McPherson and Riley Orr each had three hits in the win.

Dillon Lawrence allowed two runs over four innings of work to pick up the win.

Former Junction City standout Hunter Brantley worked a scoreless seventh to close out the game, issuing a walk.

Ouachita Baptist will travel to Northwestern Oklahoma State this weekend.