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Ouachita Baptist (17-10, 10-3 GAC) at SWOSU (14-18, 7-11 GAC) Friday, April 3, 12:00 pm (DH) Saturday, April 4, 12:00 pm Weatherford, Okla. (Athletic Complex) Live Stats  |  Watch Live SWOSU Weekly Notes (pdf)

Setting the Scene
- Bulldog baseball is back at home and looking to snap a three-game slide as they welcome Ouachita Baptist to the Athletic Complex for a Great American Conference series this weekend
- Game times have been moved so that a doubleheader will be played Friday at noon with the series finale beginning at noon on Saturday
- SWOSU met the Tigers on February 8 at the QuikTrip Division II Classic in Grand Prairie, Texas, earning a 10-8 come-from-behind victory
- The Bulldogs are coming off their second conference sweep after dropping three games at Henderson State, falling to 7-11 in league play with four series' remaining
- The series is SWOSU's first at home since mid-March and their first home game overall since March 18, a 7-6 victory over Fort Hays State
- With the month of April comes the homestretch of the league season, with SWOSU playing 12 more GAC games to determine their fate for the postseason tournament
 
The Opponent
Ouachita Baptist (17-10, 10-3 GAC)
- Split a midweek, non-conference doubleheader with Harding on Tuesday and they enter the series with SWOSU sporting a 17-10 overall mark
- Currently atop the GAC standings with a 10-3 league mark, including a four-game conference winnings treak
- Top hitting team in the conference with a team average of .318, slugging percentage of .433 and 177 runs scored
- Team pitching ranks fifth in the league with a 4.35 ERA and opponents hitting .276 against the Tigers
- Four players ranked in the top ten of the league in batting with Will Wallace (.410), who is one of three players in the GAC hitting above .400 on the year
- Starting pitchers John Franklin Matros (2.63) and Connor Eller (2.93) are both ranked among the top ten in the league for ERA and combined have a 10-1 record
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (97-76, 4th season)
- In his fourth season leading the Bulldogs and his teams have earned a berth in the Great American Conference Tournament in each of the previous three seasons
- Has tutored 14 players who have earned All-GAC status, including four first-team selections, one All-Central Region honoree, one regional gold glove award winner and one MLB draftee
- Named GAC Coach of the Year in 2013 after leading the Bulldogs to a 31-16 record and a second place finish in the conference at 21-9
- Previously served as an assistant at SWOSU for six seasons under former Bulldog coaches Charles Teasley and Scott Selby
- Played collegiately at Kansas State following two seasons at Connors State playing on nationally-ranked junior college teams
- Has a record of 97-76 while leading the Bulldogs, with a record of 8-2 against Ouachita Baptist
 
Ouachita Baptist: Jeremy Haworth (94-88-1, 4th season)
- In his fourth season at the helm of the Tigers baseball program, having coached 12 All-GAC selections and two Major League Baseball draft picks
- Previous coaching experience includes time at Arkansas-Little Rock following his playing career at Ouachita, where he was an ABCA NCAA Division II All-American
- Has led the Tigers to at least 22 victories in his first three seasons at OBU
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU hit a season-high four home runs against Fort Hays State last Wednesday, including an inside the park effort from Tyler Rapp
- For the week, the Bulldogs had six home runs which ups their season total to 14, which ranks sixth in the GAC
- Jacob Spring has hit a team-high five home runs on the year, four of which came last week and he's slugging .917 over the past seven games
- Spring also has a four-game hitting streak heading into the weekend, the longest active streak by a Bulldog hitter
- Greg Bruno and Zach Barton are tied with Spring after reaching base in each of their last four games and Barton's 16-game streak of reaching base earlier this season is the longest by a Bulldog this season
- Two-time GAC Pitcher of the Week Jon Chidester gave up a season-high 10 hits and six runs against Henderson State on Friday, dropping to 4-4 on the year
- Bryan Holt has upped his batting average to .291 and taken over the team lead with 20 RBI heading into this week's action
- SWOSU's team batting has dipped to the bottom of the league's rankings with the Bulldogs currently hitting .240 with a league-high 212 strikeouts
- The Bulldogs pitching staff ranks near the middle of the conference with a team ERA of 4.44 and opponents hitting .264 against SWOSU
- Dalton Daniels has drawn a team-high 19 walks and his on-base percentage of .381 ranks second on the team
- In 16 appearances, Cole Wagner has made 13 starts at various positions and he ranks third on the team with a .271 batting average
 
Checking the Standings
- Last weekend's sweep dropped the Bulldogs to ninth in the GAC standings, percentage points behind Arkansas Tech for eighth place
- SWOSU's four remaining league series include three against teams above them in the standings, giving the Bulldogs control of their own postseason destiny down the stretch
- Ouachita Baptist currently sits atop the standings at 10-3 with Henderson State (11-6) and Southern Arkansas (11-7) one game ahead of them in the win category
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU will play two midweek games next week, heading to Lawton to face Cameron on Tuesday before hosting USAO in Weatherford on Wednesday
- Arkansas Tech then comes to town to play a three-game league series at the Athletic Complex over the weekend