ENID, Okla. - Southern Arkansas jumped on Arkansas-Monticello early in the 2013 Great American Conference Baseball Championship final and never relented as the Muleriders repeated as GAC champions with an 11-2 victory on Tuesday from David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Box Score
Tournament MVP James Baune threw 6.0 innings of scoreless baseball to earn his second victory of the tournament. He improved to 12-1 on the season. The SAU pitching staff finished the tournament with a 2.20 ERA. Fellow starters John Mark Abbey and Timothy Buchanan joined Baune on the All-Tournament Team.
The Mulerider offense scored three times in the second inning then put the game out of reach with five two-out runs in the fourth inning. Jason Dahl drove home two with a single to left field. Chris Quinn followed with an RBI bunt single that also plated Dahl following an error. GAC Player of the Year David Harris knocked in his seventh RBI of the tournament with a single through the left side to cap the scoring in the frame.
After adding a run in the fifth, Brady Capshaw hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast that extended the lead to 11-0. Five Muleriders recorded multi-hit games as part of the 13-hit attack.
Southern Arkansas (40-15) reached the 40-win mark for the eighth time in the last 15 years - most recently going 47-10 in 2010. Arkansas-Monticello (32-20) saw it’s bid for its first-ever baseball tournament championship at the NCAA level come up one win short. Kade Garlington took the loss, his first in four decisions.
The Muleriders joined the East Central men’s cross country team, the Harding women’s golf team and the Ouachita Baptist men’s tennis team as the only four teams to repeat as GAC postseason champions for the 2012-13 athletic year.
SAU, which entered the tournament ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Central Region, along with the rest of the GAC postseason hopefuls will learn if their season will continue on Sunday at 10 p.m. during the NCAA.com Selection Show.
2013 GAC All-Tournament Team
P James Baune, Southern Arkansas (MVP)
P John Mark Abbey, Southern Arkansas
P Timothy Buchanan, Southern Arkansas
SS David Harris, Southern Arkansas
3B Brady Capshaw, Southern Arkansas
OF Jason Dahl, Southern Arkansas
C Chad Miller, Arkansas-Monticello
3B Taylor Eaves, Arkansas-Monticello
2B Ben Agredano, Arkansas-Monticello
OF Trent Wooldridge, Harding
SS Gabe Fyock, Harding
P Ryan Taylor, Arkansas Tech
OF Taylor Coleman, Henderson State