MONTICELLO, Ark. – The 20th-ranked Harding baseball team will play its first-ever Great American Conference series and its first road games of the season Saturday and Sunday against Arkansas-Monticello at Weevil Park. Saturday's doubleheader starts at noon, and Sunday's finale starts at 1 p.m.

Harding is 12-2 on the season after a doubleheader sweep of 19th-ranked North Alabama on Tuesday in Searcy. The Bisons won both games by 2-1 scores, and got game-winning hits from senior Anthony Guglielmi in game one and sophomore Matt Calhoun in game two.

The question for Harding early in the season concerns the team's hitting. The Bisons have a .260 team batting average and are averaging only 3.6 runs per game, but have played their first 14 games in the very pitching-friendly Jerry Moore Field in Searcy.

Harding has a quartet of players hitting over .300 early in the season. Junior Kyle Atkins, sophomore Jeremy Bohnett, and junior Gabe Fyock are all hitting .333, and junior Billy Ninemire is hitting .326.

Atkins is among the conference leaders with 17 runs scored and 13 stolen bases.

Harding's pitching staff is tops in the GAC with a 2.23 ERA. The Bisons' opponents have hit only .195.

Harding is likely to stick with the rotation it has used for weekend games. Junior Logan Holthaus (1-0, 3.24) is penciled in for game one, with junior Hayden Shirley (2-0, 0.64) slated to start the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. Junior Lucas Waddell (2-0, 0.47) will likely start Sunday's game.

Arkansas-Monticello enters the series 10-4 overall with an 8-3 record at hitter-friendly Weevil Field. The Weevils are hitting .288 and averaging 7.0 runs per game.

Arkansas-Monticello lost both ends of a home doubleheader Tuesday against Lyon College. The Weevils had won eight of their previous nine.

Junior Danny Loya, a transfer from Clarendon College, leads UAM with a .429 average, 19 runs scored, seven doubles and 11 walks.

Junior Kenny Marshall, a transfer from Rose State Community College, is the only GAC pitcher with more than 20 innings pitched who has not allowed an earned run. Marshall, who will likely start the series opener, is 4-0 despite walking 18 batters in 22 innings. He has struck out 24 and allowed only eight hits.

In his last outing Marshall, a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., pitched a nine-inning complete game in a 1-0 victory over Illinois-Springfield. He allowed four hits, walked six and struck out seven. Opponents are only 3-for-30 (.100) against Marshall this season with runners on base.

Chris Guzman (3-1, 3.79) and Russell Watts (1-1, 4.11) are also likely starters for the Weevils, who have a 2.83 team ERA.

Last season, Harding took two of three from Arkansas-Monticello in a Gulf South Conference series in Searcy.