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Great American Conference Baseball Tournament First Round No. 5 SWOSU (25-21, 16-14 GAC) vs. No.2 Arkansas-Monticello (33-13, 22-8 GAC) Saturday, May 3, 3:30 pm  |  Enid, Okla. (David Allen Memorial Ballpark) Tournament Homepage  |  Live Stats  |  Watch Live  |  Listen Live

ENID, Okla. – The Southwestern Oklahoma State University baseball team will open up play at the 2014 Great American Conference baseball tournament on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm against Arkansas-Monticello, the second seed in the tournament.
 
The Bulldogs enter the tournament as the No. 5 seed, their lowest seed of the past three years. In their two previous trips to David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, SWOSU has been eliminated without winning a game. Last year, the Bulldogs met UAM in the first round of the tournament with the seeds reversed and the lower-seeded Boll Weevils exploded for a tournament-record 19 runs in a 19-7 win.
 
UAM enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed following a regular season they finished with a 33-13 overall record, including a 22-8 mark in conference play. The Boll Weevils were ranked in the Top 25 for the majority of the season and this week they sit right outside the national rankings as a team receiving votes. UAM is sitting in good position to play on after the weekend after moving up to third in the latest NCAA Division II Central Region rankings. The top six teams in the final regional standings will advance to the NCAA II Tournament.
 
SWOSU and UAM will be seeing each other for the first time since late February when the Boll Weevils took two out of three games from the Bulldogs in Monticello. UAM swept a doubleheader on the first day by scores of 8-1 and 2-1 before the Bulldogs avoided the series sweep with a 5-4 win in 12 innings in the series finale.
 
Brandon Ruiz led SWOSU offensively in the series at UAM, scoring two runs on five hits – including a double and a home run – and he was joined by Jiro Morales with five hits in the series. The ace of the Bulldogs staff, senior Jonathan Johnson, had perhaps his worst outing of the year against the Boll Weevils, lasting just 5.0 innings after allowing seven hits and six runs.
 
The Bulldogs concluded the regular season on Tuesday in dramatic fashion, defeating Newman 5-4 with an 11th-inning walkoff single from Bryan Holt. The win improved SWOSU to 25-21 on the year, assuring the Bulldogs of a winning season for the third straight season under the direction of Zack Saunders.
 
Leading SWOSU offensively has been shortstop Dalton Daniels, the only player to start all 46 games this season. Daniels is batting .365 or the year with 62 hits, seven doubles and 22 RBI along with nine stolen bases in 11 attempts. Other top hitters for the Dawgs include centerfielder JR Head, first baseman Chris Faulkner, designated hitter Kale Thaxton and left fielder Brandon Ruiz.
 
On the mound, Johnson will get the start in game one. He finished the regular season 6-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 12 starts. He earned 11 decisions and pitched nine complete games, including two complete-game shutouts, holding opponents to a .234 batting average in 102.1 innings of work.
 
Saturday's winner will play the winner of the Southern Arkansas vs. Harding game on Sunday at 7:30 pm while the losing team will face the loser between Arkansas Tech and Ouachita Baptist in the 12:30 pm game on Sunday.