MAGNOLIA, Arkansas – Southern Arkansas' Preston Smith hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to hand the Ouachita baseball team a 6-4 loss on Tuesday night in the final non-conference game of the season.
Smith's game-winner broke a deadlock created by Ouachita's
Reece McWilliams' RBI single in the top of the seventh.
SAU started the scoring on Tuesday with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. That held until the top of the fourth when
Cade Bowman hit a three-run home run to put the Tigers up 3-2. The Muleriders regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run double by Tate Elliott.
The Tigers ended up out-hitting the Muleriders 10-6 in the game to make Ouachita's 20th game this season with at least 10.
Garrett Graham and
Ashton Ybarra both had two hits in the game.
Freshman
Jarrett Waggoner had a solid start, giving up just two earned runs off five hits in the first five innings of his no-decision.
Braden Tucker and
Lucas Mercado were productive out of the bullpen. The game-winning home run was the only SAU hit in the final 3.1 innings.
The Tigers wrap up the regular season with a short trip across Highway 67 this weekend to take on Henderson State in a three-game Great American Conference series. The Tigers need wins this weekend to have a chance of making the postseason.
