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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball (4-3) returns to the field after nearly a week off to host Arkansas Tech in the opening Great American Conference weekend series of the season
- The Bulldogs are coming off of a rough previous weekend, winning their opening game against Cameron but dropping the final three games of the weekend
- Last season, the Dawgs swept the regular season series against the Wonder Boys 3-0, but met ATU in the first round of the postseason tournament where they were defeated in back-to-back games in a best-of-three series and eliminated from the field
- In the NCAA Div. II era, SWOSU is 8-14 all-time against ATU and Head Coach Zack Saunders is 7-12 all-time against the Wonder Boys dating back to his first season in 2012    
 
The Opponent
Arkansas Tech (2-5)
- ATU has lost its last two contests coming into the weekend series against the Dawgs and have dropped two-out-of-three games in both non-conference series they have played in this year
- The Wonder Boys have four .300 or better hitters led by Jake Harvey who is batting .412 and Zach Klockowski who is hitting .360 with 3 2B and 2 HR
- In the GAC, their team batting average ranks eighth (.236) while their pitching staff ERA (7.26) ranks seventh 

 The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (140-105, 6th season)
- Two-time Great American Conference Coach of the Year, winning the award in 2013 and 2016
- Inducted into the Muskogee Athletic Hall of Fame on October 13, 2016
- Earned his 100th career victory at SWOSU against Northwestern Oklahoma State on April 24, 2015
- 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
 
Arkansas Tech: Dave Dawson (223-150, 8th season)
- Coach Dawson has taken ATU to new heights after seven consecutive conference tournament appearances, five 30-win seasons, and in 2014, the Wonder Boys won their first outright conference title since 1992
- Dawson came to Tech after spending the four seasons (2006-09) as the head baseball coach at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, Kan.
- Dawson lettered for four seasons at Ottawa University (Ottawa, Kan.) from 1992-96. As a player, he was named a three-time All-KCAC All-Conference performer as a catcher and served as the team's captain in both 1995 and 1996

Checking the Standings
- All rankings are with no GAC games as no conference series have been completed
- Henderson State holds the best overall record in non-conference with a 5-2 mark followed by Oklahoma Baptist with a 3-2 record
- SWOSU holds the third best record at 4-3 while Southern Arkansas is the only other team with a .500 or better slate at 3-3
- Arkansas-Monticello sit at 2-4 while both Arkansas Tech and Northwestern each hold 2-5 records
- Harding and Southeastern have each won only one game so far this season and Southern Nazarene and East Central still remain winless in 2017

SWOSU Notes
- Jason Nichols is still the Bulldogs' hits leader with 12 on the season including three for extra bases and leads SWOSU with a .462 batting average
- Rafael Otero is the only Dawg to go deep twice this season while Joel Baxley, Danny-David Linahan and Rogelio Sanchez all have hit one long ball
- In the field, SWOSU holds a .973 fielding percentage which ranks them third in GAC in that category 
- On the mound, the Bulldogs will look to regroup after giving up 48 earned runs in four games against Cameron last week
- Quintin Dougherty has already shut the door in two games for Dawgs in the closer role, with two saves to his credit so far this season
- Jeremy Smith holds the staff's lowest ERA with a 1.29 in 7.0 innings with two appearances including a start  

Looking Ahead
- SWOSU will play one single nine-inning game against Central Oklahoma in Edmond for midweek non-conference competition
- On Friday, the Dawgs face Harding in Searcy, Ark. for their second GAC series of the season and first on the road