SE Splits Senior Day Double-Header

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern and No. 20 Southern Arkansas combined for 36 runs over two games as the teams split a Saturday double-header with the Muleriders taking game one 15-10 before the Savage Storm answered with a 9-2 win in the series finale.
 
The split moves SE to 27-19 on the season overall and 23-13 in Great American Conference play heading into the final weekend of the regular season with a trip to Arkansas-Monticello April 22-23 for a four-game series.
 
The Storm hold down the third spot in the GAC standings with one week to play, four games up in the loss column on Harding.  SE will lock up the third seed in the postseason tournament with any combination of a Storm win with any HU losses in the final weekend of the season. If Southeastern wins two of its final four games it would secure the third seed without any help.
 
Saturday also served as senior day for six SE seniors in Laramie Beal, Shaina Crites, Sydney Kramer, Courtney Riddle, Jessica Seay and Jessica Simmons.
 
Despite dropping the series overall the Storm were able to send their seniors out with a win in their final home game as Beal and Riddle each collected a pair of hits while freshmen Ashton Adkins and Keeshia Thompson added two each as well.
 
Beal drove in a pair of runs while Kramer, Riddle, Thompson, Conner Harmon, Mykaela Wallace and Jordyn James each added an RBI.
 
Emily Cudd picked up her 12^th win of the year with a complete game, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits with a pair of strikeouts.
 
A Mulerider homer in the second was the first run of the game, but back-to-back-to-back RBI singles by Harmon, Thompson and Wallace in the fourth would plate three runs and open up a 3-1 lead.
 
SAU would get another run on a fluke play in which the batter was out on an infield fly and SE managed to double up a runner, but not before the runner on third reached home safely, cutting the home team's lead to 3-2.
 
But the Storm had an answer with a Riddle RBI single to score Kramer for a 4-2 lead.
 
That stretched to 5-2 on a pinch-hit RBI single by James in the sixth, with Simmons and Wallace later scoring when Kramer reached on an error for a 7-2 lead.
 
A Beal double one batter later would bring home Kramer and a pinch-running Kennedy Been to make the score 9-2 which would hold to be the final.
 
Despite a loss in the opener it was not because the offense was slowed as the Storm tallied 13 hits and 10 runs.
 
Simmons finished 4-for-5 with three RBI, including a two-run home run.  Destiny Riddle and Courtney Riddle each added two hits, while five others had one apiece.
 
Simmons' three RBI led the way, while Beal drove in two as did Harmon.  Destiny Riddle, Courtney Riddle and Thompson each had one RBI.
 
Simmons, Destiny Riddle, Beal and Harmon each homered in the game.
 
Seay got the start and took the loss after allowing seven runs on seven hits in 3.0 innings of with with one strikeout.
 
All five Storm pitchers would see time in the game with Destiny Riddle, Hunter Offill, Ashley Moore and Cudd combining on four innings with eight runs, seven earned, on eight hits with one strikeout.  SE pitching allowed 10 walks and hit a batter in the game.
 
SAU took a 3-0 lead in the first and the Storm looked to have an answer as Beal connected on a two-run homer in the bottom half to make the score 3-2.
 
After neither team scored in the second, The Muleriders would add four runs to open up a 7-2 lead, while a Courtney Riddle RBI single was the only answer in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 7-3.
 
SAU added three more in the fourth to take a 10-3 lead, but SE had an answer as Simmons and Destiny Riddle hit back-to-back homers on consecutive pitches to cut the deficit to 10-6.
 
SAU would add another in the fifth before the Storm cut into the gap with a Thompson RBI double followed by a two-run Harmon homer to close to within 11-9 after five innings.
 
Unfortunately, the Muleriders would post four runs in the top of the seventh and SE got an RBI single by Simmons in the bottom half to set the final of 15-10.