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Southern Arkansas (24-21, 14-15 GAC) at SWOSU (7-35, 3-27 GAC) Weatherford, Okla. (Athletic Complex) Friday, April 24, 1 pm (DH) Live Stats Saturday, April 25, 11 am (DH) Live Stats SWOSU Weekly Notes

Setting the Scene
- The Bulldogs enter the final weekend of the season riding an eight-game losing streak as they welcome Southern Arkansas to the Athletic Complex for a four-game series
- The Lady Muleriders come to town riding a three-game winning streak and have their sites set on moving up to the fifth seed as they are currently a half-game back of Harding
- The six graduating seniors will be honored with a Senior Day presentation between games on Saturday, April 25
- SWOSU went 1-3 against SAU last season in Magnolia, Ark., taking the first game 3-1 after 11 innings of action

The Coaches
SWOSU: Barbara Burnett (7-35, 1st season)
- Burnett returns to her alma mater to lead the Bulldog softball program for the first time this spring
- She has spent the last four seasons among the junior college ranks at Independence Community College in Independnce, Kan. where she left as the all-time winningest coach in program history with a 112 wins
- While at Independence she led the Lady Pirates to back-to-back regional runners-up finishes while breaking numerous program records and ranking nationally in the Top Five in offensive production
- She has coached two National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-Americans, two National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Americans, 16 NJCAA All-Region selections and 13 All-Conference selections

Southern Arkansas:  Jason Anderson (24-21, 1st year)
- Jason Anderson was tabbed to lead the Lady Muleriders softball program for the 2015 after one season at Northwestern Oklahoma State
- Led the Rangers to a second place finish as provisional members of the GAC in 2014 while shattering multiple single-season school records
- Spent one season at North Alabama in 2013, taking the Lions to 10th in the NFCA polls
- Began his career at Central Baptist College in Conway, Ark., where he was named a five-time National Christian Collegiate Athletics Association (NCCAA) Regional Coach of the Year. His 2010 Mustangs team would win the NCCAA National Championship after going 52-1

The Opponent
Southern Arkansas (24-21, 14-15 GAC)
- The Lady Muleriders enter the game having won three of their last six games, and most recently dropped a pair of games against Texas A&M - Commerce on Tuesday night in Commerce, Texas
- Southern Arkansas bats .313 as a team, just above the league average at .308. SAU also boasts a slugging percentage of .499, the second-best mark in the GAC and 24th in NCAA Division II, and an on-base percentage of .406, which ranks third
- Ashton Atwell has had the big bat for SAU this season. She currently ranks 13th nationally in home runs (14), 16th in home runs per game (.34), 17th in RBI per game (1.2) and 31st in slugging percentage (.804). She also has a .415 batting average
- Pitching has been a slight weakness for the Lady Muleriders, as the pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.72. Opposing batters are hitting .328 against SAU. Jamie Godwin leads the team and is 10th in the league with a 3.63 ERA
- Southern Arkansas has a .950 fielding percentage and has commited 69 errors, the third-most in the GAC
- SAU is the least aggressive baserunning team in the league, only attempt 10 steals for the season. They have successfully stolen base five times
- The Lady Muleriders have grounded into a doubleplay a league-high seven times

Last Time Out
- The Bulldogs were swept by Southeastern on Sunday and Monday at the Athletic Complex by a combined score of 34-11
- Miranda McDonald, Tori Hawk, Ashley Dunigan and Samantha Perry all went 4-12 at the plate to lead the team. Hawk had the best slugging percentage of the four at .750 with two doubles and a home run
- Taylor Eaves picked up three losses in the series despite posting a team-low 4.88 ERA and three strikeouts in 14.1 innings of action
- SWOSU hit .268 as a team, while the Savage Storm batted .390 against the Bulldogs
- The Bulldogs left 33 runners stranded and committed eight errors
- Both Rash and Hawk hit home runs. It was the first home run for Rash since Feb. 20 against Arkansas-Monticello and the first for Hawk in five games

Checking the Standings
- SWOSU (7-35, 3-27 GAC) will miss the GAC Tournament for a second straight year as the Bulldogs remain at the bottom of the standings. The final spots were clinched last week
- Henderson State (34-10, 24-6 GAC) remains atop the standings, but SOSU (29-18, 23-7 GAC) is just one game back and riding a GAC-best seven-game winning streak
- SAU (24-19, 14-15 GAC) has struggled of late, but took three games off Southern Nazarene (17-26, 13-18 GAC) on the weekend

Bulldog Facts
- The Bulldogs are batting .303 with a slugging percentage of .451 and have a .374 on-base percentage, hovering around the league average in each category. Maci Brown leads the team with a .424 batting average and .531 OBP
- Adrienne Martinez has blasted a team-high 11 home runs, tied for fourth in the league, while holding a .712 slugging percentage
- Dunigan has tied for the third-most triples in the league with three
- Molly Vivo has appeared a team-high 24 times in the circle this season
- The third inning has been catastrophic for the Bulldogs this season. They have been outscored 91-30 in the frame, and over a quarter of their runs allowed have come in the third
- Hawk has been clutch when runners are in scoring position, with a batting average of .422 in such situations. With two outs and a runner on third, she is hitting .350
- No team has experienced more steal attempts against than SWOSU who has seen 98 attempts. Ashley Filer has thrown out a league-best 16 runners
- Eaves is currently averaging 2.43 strikeouts per game