SEARCY – The 30th-ranked Harding baseball team returns to Great American Conference action with a three-game home series against East Central on Saturday and Sunday at Jerry Moore Field. The teams begin with a noon doubleheader Saturday and conclude the series with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m. All games will be carried live on HardingSports.com.

Harding (17-6, 2-1) has won three of its last four games, including an 8-2 victory over McKendree at home Wednesday. Junior shortstop Gabe Fyock had two hits and three RBI to key the Bison offense, and junior Ryan Modglin pitched seven innings and allowed only three hits and two earned runs to pick up the win.

Harding is 15-3 at home this season and will be playing its first GAC home games this weekend.

The Bisons come into the weekend hitting a conference-low .269, but Harding hit .309 in its first GAC series against Arkansas-Monticello.
Harding has a quintet hitting over .300, led by junior centerfielder Kyle Atkins. A transfer from Arkansas, Atkins leads the Bisons with 20 runs, 24 hits, 15 walks and a GAC-leading 18 stolen bases. Sophomore first baseman Matt Calhoun is hitting .338 and is among the conference leaders in doubles (9, 3rd) and slugging percentage (.577, 7th).

The Bisons enter the weekend with the GAC's best ERA at 2.97 and rank in the top 20 in Division II with only 7.07 hits allowed per nine innings. Harding has an all-junior weekend rotation that will include Hayden Shirley (3-1, 1.73), Lucas Waddell (3-0, 2.03), and Logan Holthaus (1-0, 3.20). Shirley ranks third in the GAC in ERA and second in opponents batting average (.172), and Waddell is fifth in ERA and third in opponents batting average (.195).

East Central, who won only nine games last season, enters the weekend 14-11 overall and 3-2 in GAC play. The Tigers won a pair of conference home games last weekend against Arkansas-Monticello with Sunday's game rained out.

East Central ranks second in the conference with a .316 batting average and second in Division II with 55 doubles. Oddly, the Tigers have been hit by a pitch 40 times, fourth in Division II.

Jeremy Stein, a junior outfielder from Tupelo, Okla., is East Central's leading hitter. Stein is hitting .447, and interestingly, has not walked all season in 51 plate appearances.

East Central's pitching staff is sixth in the conference with a 4.58 ERA. The Tigers' likely weekend starters include junior right-hander Will Grimes (3-0, 2.14), junior left-hander Eric Fredrick (4-0, 2.76), and senior right-hander Jacob Gammons.

Harding and East Central have met 21 times with the Bisons leading the series 12-9.