---

Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball (9-14, 5-8 GAC) comes into a midweek non-conference contest with Oklahoma City having lost four in a row which began last Tuesday (March 14) when they fell to the Stars in Weatherford and stretched into the weekend when they were swept by No. 20 Southern Arkansas in Magnolia
- That game against OCU was a 12-inning affair in which SWOSU utilized nine different pitchers throughout the course of the game in a 4-3 loss
- Head Coach Zack Saunders is now 1-1 all-time against Oklahoma City since his tenure began in 2012
- Oklahoma City is ranked #4 in the NAIA polls
 
The Opponent
#4 Oklahoma City Stars (28-4)
- OCU is rolling right now, having won nine in a row and 17 of their last 18 games
- Stars are hitting .383 as a squad including six players at .400 or better
- On the mound, OCU pitchers have a combined 3.65 ERA and are holding opponents to a .227 batting average
- In the game against SWOSU back on March 14, Jerame Littell hit the two-run homerun in the top of the 12th that propelled the Stars to the extra-inning victory

 The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (143-115, 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
 
Oklahoma City: Denney Crabaugh (1,212-370-2, 25th season)
- Denney Crabaugh has built the winningest baseball program in the nation and a hall of fame career in 25 years at Oklahoma City
- Since 1991, OCU has 1,118 wins for the most in college baseball in that span
- Crabaugh is now a member of the Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame 

Checking the Conference Standings
- Now on an 11 game winning streak, Southern Arkansas remains atop the standings with just one conference loss at 14-1
- Arkansas Tech ranks second at 12-3, followed by Arkansas-Monticello with an 11-4 mark and Henderson State with a 10-5 slate
- Oklahoma Baptist is the only other team above .500 with a 9-6 record
- In sixth is East Central (7-8), then SWOSU (5-8) and in the final would-be 'playoff spot' is Ouachita with a 5-10 record
- Rounding out the standings: Southeastern (4-9), Northwestern (3-12) and finally Southern Nazarene (2-13)   

SWOSU Notes
- The Bulldogs were led by Danny-David Linahan last week in four games, batting .444 with one double, one RBI and two runs scores
- Ruben Rodriguez batted .333 with a team-high six hits and one run scored
- Blake Gooden threw his longest outing of the season in the final game of the Southern Arkansas series, pitching 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball while striking out three
- Vincent Berrones (2.2 IP), Justin Moreno (2.0 IP), Quintin Dougherty (2.0 IP) all threw scoreless innings in relief last week
- Rafael Otero leads the Bulldogs in on-base percentage (.449)
- SWOSU is 7-1 on the year when leading after six innings, but 1-12 when trailing after six

Looking Ahead
- SWOSU (9-14, 5-8 GAC) will host Arkansas-Monticello in a Great American Conference series beginning on Friday with a single nine-inning game followed by the doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon