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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball (17-23, 13-15 GAC) concludes the 2017 regular season against rival Northwestern this weekend in the final conference series of the year
- Due to rain threats, a schedule change has been made to the series as the doubleheader will now be played on Friday at 3 and 7 pm and the final game on Saturday at 1 pm
- The Dawgs are 11-1 against the Rangers since joining the Great American Conference with the lone loss coming in 2014
 
The Opponent
Northwestern Oklahoma State (12-33, 6-23 GAC)
- The Rangers rank 11th in the conference with one weekend left to improve their standing
- NWOSU is coming off of a walk-off 6-5 victory over Panhandle State in their previous game
- Northwestern is led offensively by Steven Deckard who is batting .405 with a .608 slugging percentage

The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (151-124, 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
 
Northwestern Oklahoma State: Sam Carel (45-97, 3rd season)
- At Jefferson College, Carel posted an impressive 296-149 (.665) overall record where his teams captured eight-consecutive conference titles and made back-to-back JUCO World Series trips in 2011 and 2012
- Carel has also earned 10 total Coach of the Year awards throughout his career
-  Carel's Rangers set a team record in 2016 for most wins in the Great American Conference (11)
 
Checking the Conference Standings
- Four teams have already clinched a spot in the postseason tournament: Southern Arkansas, Arkansas-Monticello, Arkansas Tech and Henderson State
- All four of those teams have clinched home-field advantage in the opening round of the conference tournament  
- SWOSU, Harding and Southeastern have all clinched spots in the tournament and Ouachita can earn the final spot with one win in the final series

SWOSU Notes
- At the 2016-17 SWOSU All-Sports Banquet, senior Connor Anderson was named the 2017 baseball MVP by Coach Saunders
- Anderson has come on strong since late March, now ranking third on the team in batting average at .305 with 18 starts under his belt
- Ted Wisdom has also turned it on late and made the most out of his playing time, leading the team with a .366 batting average in 11 starts
- The Dawgs have the third-best fielding percentage in the GAC at .968 having committed 42 errors in 40 games played
- On the bump, Jeremy Smith turned in another quality performance against Ouachita last weekend by striking out a career-high 14 hitters in 8.0 innings of work despite getting the no decision
- Devin Ring nearly threw a complete game the hard way, taking his start into the 10th inning before finally exiting the game with two outs
- Ring struck out a career-high nine hitters but was charged with the tough-luck loss
- Skyler Martin has turned it on coming out of the bullpen, having allowed just one earned run in his last 10.1 innings pitched  


Looking Ahead
- The Dawgs will be traveling east to Arkansas for the first round of the GAC Tournament, but seedings are still to be determined
- The opening round will be played exactly like a weekend series in a best-of-3 format beginning with a single game on Friday (May 5) and a doubleheader if necessary on Saturday (April 6)