HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The RiverHawks passed an early season test muscling past #11-ranked Southern Arkansas 7-5 on Saturday. 

C.D. White doubled twice for a three-hit game and scored an insurance run in the ninth inning to lead NSU over a team that was a game away from making last season's NCAA College World Series. 

The RiverHawks never trailed after Brock Reller hit a solo homer in the first.   White scored NSU's second run in the third inning on a double to right center. 

Southern Arkansas remained scoreless until they scored a run on a balk until the sixth.

White gathered two insurance runs in the seventh, plating two on a single, and extended their lead out to 6-1 in the top of the eighth, with Blaze Brothers scoring a pair on a single to left. 

The Muleriders made the game interesting in the bottom of the eighth, scoring four off two homers to get back within one of the RiverHawks. 

A one-out double from White would lead to him scoring off a passed ball to extend the NSU lead back out to two. 

Southern Arkansas would get fanned twice at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, leading the RiverHawks to a season-opening win.

Seth Key (1-0) struck out a pair and earned the win going five innings.  Jake Bigham recorded the final five outs for his first NSU save. 

The RiverHawks will finish the weekend with an 11 a.m. first-pitch against Harding.