SEARCY, Ark. – Bulldog Baseball heads on the road this weekend as they travel to play in a three-game Great American Conference series in Searcy, Arkansas against Harding. The teams will take the field on Saturday to play a doubleheader starting at 1:00 pm and will finish out the series a day later with game three at the same time.
The Dawgs are looking to keep their momentum going after sweeping their first conference series against East Central last weekend. Including their midweek win this past Tuesday, the SWOSU has won four straight games. Harding is also rolling into the weekend with a win streak, winning their last five, including a sweep against Arkansas Monticello last weekend.
Heading into the series SWOSU sits 11-11 on the year and 6-6 in GAC play, while Harding boasts a 17-6 overall record and a 7-5 league mark.
SWOSU's offense seems to have found the perfect balance of contact and power with
Alex Rice and
Geoff Marlow over the last few series of play. Rice – who leads the team in hits – has a five-game hitting streak and has a hit in eight of the last nine games. He ranks seventh in the GAC currently with a .390 batting average. Rice often finds himself in scoring position, and when he isn't, he quickly takes it upon himself to get there by currently ranking second in the conference with 13 stolen bases. Marlow on the other hand is the brawn of the lineup, often driving in Rice to help get the Dawgs on the board. Marlow currently sits second in the league in RBIs with 36 and just four away from the league leader.
The Bulldog pitching staff is starting to find their rhythm as a whole as the season begins to reach its halfway point.
Jackson Phillips continues to be the singular piece of consistency week after week for SWOSU. He currently ranks third in two conference categories, strikeouts (43) and opposing batting average against (.188). Meanwhile,
Ernesto Hidrogo is a familiar face out of the bullpen. Hidrogo has only surrendered one earned run in his last four appearances and seven innings pitched. Both Hidrogo and Phillips look to continue their solid performances this upcoming weekend in Searcy.
When the Bulldogs and the Bisons met up last season in Weatherford, SWOSU was swept by scores of 7-17, 3-20 and 8-12.
