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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball looks to continue their success in GAC play this weekend when they battle East Central in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday out at the Athletic Complex
- The series was originally scheduled to be played in Ada, but heavy rainfall the past week has forced a venue change back to Weatherford
- The Bulldogs will bring a five game winning streak into the series and currently sit in a tie for second place in the league standings with just one loss in conference play
- Despite playing at home this weekend, SWOSU will be the visiting team in all three games due to the change in site
 
The Opponent
East Central (1-12, 0-6 GAC)
- Has yet to find their stride early in the season, having just one win on the season and still remain winless in GAC action at 0-6
- The Tigers are batting .247 as a unit and are led by Cale Ridling who is hitting .379 in 10 games for ECU
- On the mound, ECU holds a 10.14 team earned run average and have been carried by Logan Lannon and Chris Sanchez who have combined to log 40 innings pitched for the Tigers
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (163-134, 9th 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
 
East Central: Dino Rosato (162-256, 10th season)
- Over nine seasons, Rosato's squads have produced 17 all-conference members and over 80 academic honorees.
- In 2016 ECU advanced to the Great American Conference Championship tournament for the first time, falling in the opening round to arch rival Southeastern in a best-of-three series
- Since 2012, ECU has had an increase in output and produced three winning seasons, including the first time since 1996 that the Tigers had two-straight winning seasons when they did so in 2014 and 2015
 
SWOSU Notes
- During the recent five game winning streak, SWOSU has swung the bats well posting a .346 collective average dating back to the final game of the Arkansas Tech series
- Leading the offense has been Bryan Miranda who this week was named the GAC Player of the Week after batting .667 in the Harding series
- Miranda continued his success in SWOSU's midweek on Tuesday against UCO, finishing 4-for-5 and upping his season batting average to a team leading .444
- Alex Pimentel is currently riding an eight game hitting streak and is second in team average at .424 himself
- Daniel Richardson has settled in at the dish, having raised his batting average over 100 points to .283 the last four games and has now hit a team leading three home runs in that span
- Drew Grubb will look to continue his success on the mound coming into the new weekend after pitching 7.0 scoreless innings against Harding in his previous start
- The pitching staff as a whole currently is sitting at a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio, ringing up 119 hitters in 114 innings while giving 39 free passes

Looking Ahead
- The Bulldogs will go on the road on Tuesday (March 6) when they battle Northeastern State in Tahlequah in midweek play
- SWOSU will return home next weekend to host Southeastern in another conference three-game series