BETHANY, Okla. – Bulldog Baseball heads on the road this weekend to play in a three-game Great American Conference series in Bethany against Southern Nazarene. The teams will take the field on Friday to play a single game beginning at 2:00 pm and will finish out the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 12:00 pm.
The Dawgs are looking to get back to their winning ways after falling to Arkansas Tech last weekend. They are currently in a two-way tie for seventh place in the conference, keeping them in playoff contention at the midway point of the season. SWOSU picked up a midweek win against USAO this past Tuesday and racked up 20 hits in a 16-11 loss at No. 4-ranked Missouri Southern on Wednesday – a solid response after suffering a series sweep at the hands of No. 20 Arkansas Tech last weekend.
Having momentum going into this series is huge considering SWOSU faces the number one ranked hitting team in the conference with Southern Nazarene who is batting .327 overall. However, even with all that firepower, they have lost six of their last seven coming into the weekend.
SWOSU sits 15-16 on the year and 8-10 in GAC play, while SNU is 14-18 overall and 6-12 in GAC play.
The lineup continues to thrive with the help of
Caleb Clines and
Alex Rice. Clines leads the GAC in on base percentage (.580) and walks (30) while Rice boasts an impressive .390 batting average and ranks second in the conference in stolen bases (18) and fourth in runs scored (42).
Five SWOSU starters are batting over the .300 mark with another two just under that. Power is being supplied from
Geoff Marlow who has seven home runs this season and
Emilio Trevino who now has five. Both homered on Wednesday against MSSU.
On the mound,
Jackson Phillips (4-2) will look to bounce back after allowing a season high seven runs (six earned) against Arkansas Tech last weekend.
When the Bulldogs and the Crimson Storm met up last season in Weatherford, SWOSU swept the series by scores of 14-9, 10-9, and 8-7.
