MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Harding baseball dropped it final non-conference game of the regular season Tuesday with a 5-1 loss to No. 13 Southern Arkansas.

The Bisons (26-19) now turn their attention to No. 5 Arkansas Tech, who Harding hosts Friday and Saturday in a three-game Great American Conference series that will determine the Bisons' postseason future.

Harding needs either one win in the series or a loss by Ouachita Baptist in its series against Henderson State to clinch one of the six spots in the GAC Tournament to be played in Enid, Okla., May 3-6.

Harding took an early lead against Southern Arkansas (33-14). Senior Trent Wooldridge singled for the 10th straight official at-bat to lead off the game and moved to second on Erin McCarver's single. Wooldridge, the reigning GAC Player of the Week, then scored from second on Matt Calhoun's double play ground ball.

The Bisons had just four hits the rest of the game off Mulerider starter Colton Strother, who improved to 4-0 with the nine-inning complete game. His longest outing of the season prior to Tuesday's game was five innings against Union on Feb. 25. Strother allowed six hits, all singles, walked two and struck out three.

Southern Arkansas senior Jackson McCurdy hit a two-run double in the second to give the Muleriders the lead for good. Southern Arkansas added a single run in the fourth on an RBI groundout by Tyler Cameron and added two more in the fifth.

Sophomore Alan Copeland made his first start of the season for Harding. He came out after 55 pitches, having allowed two earned runs on five hits with four walks. The Bisons used three relievers. Hunter Payne gave up two earned runs on three hits in two innings, while Andrew Fiddler pitched 2 2-3 scoreless innings, and Bronson Smith pitched one scoreless inning.

Southern Arkansas had 14 hits, including four singles from Trevor Rucker. Zac Stewart led Harding's offense by going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.