Harding (23-19, 14-7) vs. Southwestern Oklahoma (16-23, 9-15)
When: Sunday, Apr. 19 (DH) at 1 p.m. & Monday, Apr. 20 at 12 p.m.
Where: Weatherford, Okla. (SWOSU Athletic Complex)
Series: Tied 9-9 (SWOSU leads 6-4 in GAC games)
Harding Notes
Weather has again forced Harding to move a Great American Conference home series to the road. The Bisons will travel to Weatherford, Oklahoma, to meet Southwestern Oklahoma in the next-to-last GAC series of the season.
Harding enters the series in second place in the GAC standings despite playing only five conference home games. The Bisons will play 22 of its 27 conference games on the road, including the final series next weekend at Arkansas Tech in Russellville.
Harding is 14-7 in conference, a .667 winning percentage. Ouachita Baptist (11-5) leads the conference with a .688 winning percentage. The six teams with the highest winning percentage qualify for the GAC Tournament in Enid, Oklahoma, in May.
The Bisons have raised their team batting average 46 points to .287 over the last 23 games. Harding has had eight hits or more in each of the last 12 games and has moved to seventh in the GAC in batting average and eighth in scoring (5.5 runs per game).
Senior Kyler Offenbacker has hits in his last 12 games, the longest hitting streak by a Harding player this season. He is 18 for 44 (.407) with six multi-hit games during the stretch, raising his batting average to .312 for the season. Offenbacker has been Harding's best hitter in conference games, hitting .361 (22 for 61) with 16 runs, six doubles and 10 RBIs.
Junior Davis Richardson has hits in 14 of his last 17 games, including 11 multi-hit games, and has taken over the team lead in with a .323 batting average. He is also Harding's leader in home runs (6) and RBIs (29). Richardson has a team-leading 30 walks, good for second in the GAC, and ranks ninth in the conference with a .453 on-base percentage.
Harding's pitching staff is led by three juniors who each have five wins this season. Andrew Fiddler is 5-2 with a team-best 2.87 ERA. All five of his wins have come in conference games and has won five of his last six starters. In his last three outings, Fiddler has allowed only one earned run over 22 innings.
Collin Campbell, the reigning GAC Pitcher of the Week, is 5-2 with a 3.08 ERA. Four of his wins have come in conference games, the last coming last week at Northwestern Oklahoma in a complete-game start that yielded no earned runs or walks with a career-high 10 strikeouts over seven innings.
Jacob Stripling is 5-3 with a 3.42 ERA and a 3-1 conference record. He has wins in each of his last four starts.
Harding's pitching staff has a 3.98 ERA overall, good for fourth in the GAC. Juniors Hunter Payne and Zac Stewart have been the Bisons' workhorses out of the bullpen. Payne is 2-3 with a 3.30 ERA in a team-high 19 appearances. He has two saves and 17 strikeouts in 30 innings. Stewart is 3-3 with a 3.80 ERA and has five saves in 16 appearances.
Southwestern Oklahoma Notes
Southwestern is 16-23 overall and 9-15 in conference. The Bulldogs are ninth in the conference with a .360 winning percentage.
Southwestern is at the bottom of the GAC in batting average (.246), on-base percentage (.330) and slugging percentage (.338), but has one of the most dangerous hitters in the conference in Jacob Spring, a junior outfielder from Shawnee, Oklahoma. Spring is hitting .266 with a team highs in runs (23) and extra-base hits (18).
Southwestern is fifth in the GAC with a 4.65 ERA. The Bulldogs' top starter is junior right-hander John Chidester, who is 5-5 with a 2.51 ERA. He has five of the team's 16 wins and leads the team in innings pitched (75 1/3), strikeouts (63) and opponents' batting average (.230).
Series
Southwestern Oklahoma has won two of the three GAC series played between the teams. Harding's series win came in 2014. The Bisons lost the opener 8-2 but came back to win 9-2 and 10-7 in the final two games. Southwestern won two of three games in Searcy in 2013 and all three games in Weatherford in 2012.
Harding Batters vs. Southwestern Oklahoma – Noah Chandler (.545, 6 for 11, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 4 RBI), John Chapman (.182, 2 for 11, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI), Harrison Hunter (.000, 0 for 3), Kyler Offenbacker (.375, 6 for 16, 2 R, 1 RBI), Davis Richardson (.375, 3 for 8, 2 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI), Zac Stewart (.333, 1 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 SB)
Harding Pitchers vs. Southwestern Oklahoma – Collin Campbell (1-0, 5.68 ERA, 1 G, 6 1/3 IP, 3 K), Alan Copeland (0-0, 0.00, 1 G, 4 IP, 4 K), Andrew Fiddler (0-0, 3.18 ERA, 2 G, 5 2/3 IP, 6 K), Josh Spears (0-0, 6.00, 2 saves, 3 G, 3 IP, 3 K), Zac Stewart (0-0, 13.50, 2 G, 1 1/3 IP, 1K).
