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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball will play a three-game series against Cameron to kick off the new 2018 season with a one nine-inning contest in Lawton on Friday and a doubleheader in Weatherford on Saturday
- The Bulldogs went 1-3 last season against Cameron after winning the first game of the home-and-home series and dropping the final three
-  In a windy pair of days last year, both teams' offenses combined to put up 84 runs scored in the four-game series
- In SWOSU's Division II era, Cameron leads the all-time series 39-24 against the Dawgs as well as leads the series 9-4 since Zack Saunders took over in 2012
 
The Opponent
Cameron (0-0)
- Finished fourth in the Lone Star Conference in 2017 with a 30-20 overall record and an even 10-10 mark in league play
- Batted .302 as a team last season and will return an All-American selection in Micah Kaaukai
- Defensively last season, Cameron was susceptible to allowing runs with a 5.73 team earned run average  
  
 Quote From Coach Saunders
"Since we have so many new guys, it seems like the fall went by extremely fast especially when you start trying to get everybody acclimated and finding roles for everybody. It's been a really good fall though. There's been a lot of high-highs and some low-lows, but I think we've hit our stride and we're looking forward to an exciting year."
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (154-129, 7th 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
 
Cameron: Brady Huston (80-70, 4th season)
-  Named the head coach for the Cameron Baseball program in the summer of 2015 after spending one season as the team's top assistant coach
- The Aggies surged in year two under Huston and opened the season on an eleven game winning streak and climbed up to No. 10 in the National Polls, making a postseason run and ending the season with 10 All-LSC selections and a regional ranking
- Comes from Seminole State College where he was the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator from 2011-2013, recording a 120-49 record. During that span, Huston had 11 players drafted including 8 pitchers with only one being drafted out of high school

GAC Preseason Poll
Rank. Team, Points (First-Place Votes)
1. Southern Arkansas, 119 (9)
2. Oklahoma Baptist, 109 (3)
3. Arkansas Tech, 102
4. Arkansas-Monticello, 89
5. Henderson State, 84
6. SWOSU, 67
7. Southeastern, 57
8. Harding, 56
9. Ouachita, 35
10. Northwestern, 31
11. East Central, 30
12. Southern Nazarene, 13  

SWOSU Notes
- Nine returning players from last season will combine with 31 new faces to form the 2018 SWOSU Baseball team
- Jason Nichols (1B, DH) and Daniel Richardson (3B) will return to the everyday lineup looking to build off of their first seasons as Bulldogs
- Nichols batted .315 in 2017 and was the only hitter above .300 in the lineup
- Richardson finished at .252, but led the team in extra base hits with 12 doubles and three triples
-  The offense will look to improve from a year ago after batting .242 as a team which ranked them 11th in the GAC in that category
- On the mound SWOSU finished seventh in the league with a 5.94 earned run average collectively
- The Bulldogs were sound defensively last season, posting a .970 fielding percentage on the year which ranked third around the league 

Looking Ahead
- The Dawgs will welcome Northeastern State to the Athletic Complex on Tuesday for a single nine-inning contest
- SWOSU will then travel to San Angelo, Texas for a three-game series (one game a day) against No. 24 Angelo State