SEARCY – Harding baseball will open Great American Conference play Saturday and Sunday against Southern Nazarene at Jerry Moore Field. Saturday's doubleheader begins at noon, and Sunday's single game begins at 1 p.m.

Harding enters the weekend with a 5-1 record. The Bisons won their first five at home before falling 7-6 at Ouachita Baptist on Tuesday in a non-conference game.

Through the first two weeks of the season, Harding's pitching staff has the lowest ERA in the GAC at 2.28. Harding has four of the top five pitchers in the conference in ERA among players that have pitched at least one inning per team game. Sophomore Josh Spears (6. 1 IP) and Cameron Walker (6.0 IP) have not allowed an earned run, senior Hayden Shirley has allowed only one earned run in 10 innings (0.90 ERA), and redshirt freshman Zac Stewart has allowed only one earned run in 7.1 innings (1.23 ERA).

Harding's starting pitchers have a 1.57 ERA (28.2 IP/5 ER) in the Bisons' six games. Shirley (2-0, 0.90), Walker (0-0, 0.00) and senior Lucas Waddell (0-0, 2.79) will be the probable starters against Southern Nazarene.

The Bisons are fifth in the 11 team conference with a .302 batting average and are fourth with 7.50 runs per game. Harding's OPS (on-base + slugging) is .845, slightly above the conference OPS of .806. Juniors Victor Guerra and Jeremy Bohnett have powered the Harding offense early. Guerra is hitting .400 with a home run and six RBI, and Bohnett is at .368 with a home run and six RBI.

Southern Nazarene, from Bethany, Okla., is 3-6 overall and opened GAC play last weekend with three home losses to Arkansas Tech. The Crimson Storm, who has not played a road game this season, has lost four straight overall.

Southern Nazarene has a .301 team batting average and averages 7.22 runs per game. The Crimson Storm has an .844 OPS. Chance San Miguel, a junior catcher from San Diego, leads Southern Nazarene with a .438 average. He is one of three Crimson Storm players with two home runs and has six RBI. Senior infielder Jacob Inbody is hitting .344 and six of his nine hits have gone for extra bases.

The Crimson Storm pitching staff has struggled early and is 11th in the conference with a 7.00 ERA. Southern Nazarene's probable weekend starters include senior left-hander Nate Saquilon (0-1, 4.50), senior left-hander Matt Berry (1-2, 4.91) and senior right-hander John Basnight (1-1, 7.16).

This weekend's series will be the first-ever meetings between Harding and Southern Nazarene in baseball.