DURANT, Okla. – Harding baseball will look to build on the momentum of its midweek victory over Division II's No. 1-ranked team when they meet Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday and Sunday for a three-game Great American Conference series.
Harding (8-2, 2-1) defeated Delta State 12-2 on Wednesday on a solid pitching effort by freshman starter Collin Campbell, who went five innings and allowed only one earned run and struck out five. The Bisons opened conference play last weekend with a 2-games-to-1 series victory over Southern Nazarene.
The Bisons enter the series with the Savage Storm with the third-best batting average (.321) and second-best on-base percentage (.420) in the conference. Harding's pitching staff has a GAC-best 2.84 ERA and ranks second in opponents batting average (.233).
Harding has two of the top 10 hitters in the conference in senior shortstop Gabe Fyock (.419/.471.516) and junior outfielder Jeremy Bohnett (.394/.462./.576). Senior Hayden Shirley is second in the GAC in ERA at 1.80 and has a 3-0 record.
Shirley, senior Lucas Waddell (1-0, 3.94), and junior Cameron Walker (0-0, 1.86) are scheduled to start the three games for the Bisons.
Southeastern Oklahoma enters the series 7-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play. The Savage Storm won one game in each of its first two GAC series vs. Henderson State and at Ouachita Baptist. Southeastern swept a pair of non-conference home games against Tarleton State on Tuesday.
The Savage Storm has the GAC's lowest batting average at .235 and is averaging 4.6 runs per game. Southeastern's pitching staff has a solid 3.39 ERA, good for third in the conference, and has limited opponents to a .248 batting average.
Southeastern's top performer this season has been senior reliever Cameron Mann, who is 1-0 with a 2.20 ERA and three saves in eight appearances over 16 1/3 innings.
Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma have met 14 times with the Savage Storm holding an 11-3 lead. Last season, Harding won the first game of a three-game series in Durant. Waddell was the winning pitcher in that game for the Bisons, allowing five runs in 9.0 innings with three strikeouts.
