DURANT, Okla. – It is crunch time for the Harding baseball team. With two Great American Conference series remaining, the Bisons find themselves in eighth place of nine teams in the conference standings.

Harding is 23-19 overall and 6-12 in conference play. Only the top six teams in the regular season standings advance to the GAC Tournament in Enid, Okla., in May.

The Bisons battle to move up the standings will be difficult, as Harding travels to Durant, Okla., to meet GAC-leading Southeastern Oklahoma State. The Savage Storm is 29-12 overall and 13-5 in conference play.

The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.

Last weekend Harding suffered a three-game sweep at home against Arkansas Tech. The Bisons rebounded with a 9-4 victory Tuesday at Henderson State. Harding had eight extra-base hits in the game, including home runs by Chase Presley and Matt Calhoun. The Reddies had 18 hits in the game, the most by a Harding opponent this season, but left 14 runners on base.

Harding is eighth of nine teams in the conference in batting average (.261). Currently, Harding's top hitter is junior Billy Ninemire, who is hitting .329. He also leads the team in hits (48), doubles (14), and on-base percentage (.406).

The Bison pitchers are third in the conference with a 3.63 ERA. Two of Harding's three weekend pitchers are in the top 10 in the category. Junior Hayden Shirley is 3-4 with a 2.63 ERA, seventh in the conference, and junior Lucas Waddell is 5-3 with a 2.84 ERA, eighth in the GAC. Opponents are batting only .180 against Shirley, the second-best figure in the conference.

Southeastern Oklahoma started the season 11-8 but has won 18 of its next 22. The Savage Storm took two of three on the road last weekend at Arkansas-Monticello.

Southeastern Oklahoma ranks fourth in the conference with a .290 team batting average. The Savage Story is led by senior Blake Gentry, who is fifth in the conference with a .376 average. Gentry leads the GAC with 26 stolen bases.

The Savage Storm has the conference's top pitching staff with a 3.55 ERA. Their top pitcher is reliever Cameron Mann, who is 7-0 with a 0.86 ERA. He has made 23 appearances, all in relief, and has allowed only four earned runs in 42 innings. His 10 saves leads all GAC pitchers.

SOSU's top starter is senior Brice Williams, who enters the weekend with a 6-1 record and a 1.93 ERA.

Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma have played 11 games in previous seasons. The Savage Storm leads the series 9-2. The most recent games were in Durant in 2000, when both teams were members of the Lone Star Conference. Southeastern Oklahoma won all four games of the series.