BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Southern Arkansas used a fast start and fended off a few Oklahoma Baptist scoring chances to secure an 8-3 win in the GAC Tournament semifinals on Friday. The Muleriders plated four runs in the opening inning and never trailed, improving to 45-7 on the season.

OBU fell to 41-14 overall. The team will now wait and see if it draws an at-large bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. The NCAA's selection show comes Monday at 9 a.m.

The early surge proved decisive. Southern Arkansas took advantage of an error and delivered three hits in the first, highlighted by RBI knocks from Brooklyn Reed and Payton Owens to build a 4-0 cushion.

OBU struggled to respond against Emma Duncan, who limited the Bison to just three hits across seven innings while striking out seven.

They broke through in the third frame when Greenlee Wells lifted a sacrifice fly to score Kaley Cook, trimming the deficit to 4-1. The Bison threatened again in the sixth after Haley Hacker tripled to spark the rally. Cook delivered the biggest swing for OBU, driving in two runs with a single to cut the margin to 5-3.

However, any momentum was short-lived. SAU responded in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of defensive errors to score three unearned runs. Sophia Luetticke's two-run triple provided the key blow, extending the lead to 8-3 and putting the game out of reach.

Cook led the Bison offensively with two hits and two RBI, while Hacker accounted for the team's lone extra-base hit. Despite drawing six walks, OBU could not overcome three errors and eight hits allowed. Plus, offensively, the green and gold stranded eight runners.