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Setting the Scene
- SWOSU Baseball is bound for Monticello, Ark., this weekend for a three-game league series against Arkansas-Monticello, who currently sits atop the Great American Conference standings
- This will be the first conference road series for the Bulldogs, who have played all five series at home after weather forced two prior series moved to Weatherford
- The Bulldogs enter the weekend with a record of 16-11 and tied for third in the GAC standings with a record of 10-5 in conference games, which is one game behind Henderson State in second and two games back of UAM in the lead
- SWOSU is 7-6 on the road this season while Arkansas-Monticello has a record of 9-5 on their home field for the year
 
The Opponent
Arkansas-Monticello (17-7, 12-3 GAC)
- Winners of three of their last four games after defeating top-ranked Delta State 17-9 on Tuesday afternoon in Monticello
- UAM is the first team outside the Top 25 in the latest NCBWA poll, which was released on Wednesday
- The Weevils feature the top offense in the conference, batting .341 as a team with a league-best 44 home runs and 237 runs scored
- The pitching staff for UAM has a combined 5.64 ERA – which ranks seventh in the league
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Zack Saunders (170-140, 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
 
Arkansas-Monticello: John Harvey (210-153, 8th season)
- Harvey is the winningest baseball coach in UAM history and earlier this season he recorded his 200th career victory for the Weevils
- Guided UAM to four 30-win seasons, included a program-best record of 40-16 in the 2016 season
- Previously coached at Henderson State for six seasons (2005-10), where he led the Reddies to a 154-148 record
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU enters the weekend as the third-best hitting team in the Great American Conference with a team batting average of .304 and the Bulldogs have hit a league-leading 11 triples this season
- The Bulldogs also lead the conference in stolen bases, with 39 bases swiped on 52 attempts this season
- The pitching staff for SWOSU comes into the series with a 5.53 ERA, which is good enough for fifth among league teams
- Bryan Miranda (48) and Alex Pimentel (47) have the most hits among GAC players while Miranda also leads the league in triples (6) and stolen bases (15) and ranks second in runs scored (32) and Pimentel ranks third with 30 runs batted in
- Brady Burtner has started the last 16 games for SWOSU and he's moved up to third on the team with a .377 batting average while ranking second with five doubles and seventh with 13 RBI
- Brendan Peitsmeyer is coming into the weekend off his best performance of the season, in which he threw a 10-inning complete game with 11 strikeouts in the Bulldogs Game 2 victory over Southern Arkansas
- Garret Gaunt picked up his first save of the season after striking out three in the final two innings of the Bulldogs 5-1 victory over Oklahoma Christian on Tuesday
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU returns to action next weekend with a three-game GAC series in Bethany against Southern Nazarene on March 30-31