RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — With the regular season quickly winding down, the Arkansas Tech baseball team will travel to face Southwestern Oklahoma in its final Great American Conference road trip of the season this Friday at Saturday in Weatherford, Oklahoma.

The Wonder Boys (20-17, 7-10 GAC) are still well within the postseason conversation with nine league games remaining, as they sit just a game and a half out of the sixth and final qualifying spot for the GAC tournament entering the series with the Bulldogs (16-20, 9-12 GAC), who Tech swept across four meetings a year ago.

The Tech offense continues to roll, averaging 7.2 runs per game over the course of the season. The Wonder Boys have posted a .296 team batting average through their first 37 games, and are near the top of the GAC in runs scored (268), home runs (36) and slugging (.454). Patrick Castleberry continues to lead the way, as he sits in the top 15 in the country with 12 home runs and 50 RBIs. The senior also leads the Wonder Boys with 38 runs, a .742 slugging percentage and .474 on-base percentage, while knocking the second-most doubles with 11 and drawing the second-most walks with 19.

Castleberry is one of six Tech batters to be hitting over .300. Keenan Jumper is batting .342 with a team-high 12 doubles and 20 RBIs, while Cole Fergus posts a .337 average and .735 slugging percentage with eight homers, five doubles and 28 RBIs. Bryan Heward bats .333 with six home runs and seven doubles, and is second on the team with 33 RBIs, while Collin O'Neil and Kris Ayers are hitting .325 and .315, respectively.

The Bulldogs, who took two out of three from conference-leading Ouachita Baptist last weekend, don't have quite as much pop on offense, batting .240 as a team and averaging 4.4 runs per game. They counter with a team ERA of 4.40, led by starter Jon Chidester, who sports a 5-4 record with a 2.35 ERA over 10 starts, with 62 strikeouts in 69 innings. Four relievers also post a sub-4.00 ERA, with Taylor Weifenbach sporting a 3.48 mark in 18 appearances and Brett McNaughton a 3.93 in 14 trips to the mound.

Christian Perez leads the SWOSU offense with a .333 average in 13 games. Bryan Holt bats .289 with 21 RBIs, while CJ Faddis adds a .271 average in 34 starts.

The three-game series is scheduled for a 2 p.m. single game Friday and a noon doubleheader Saturday, with live statistics available at www.arkansastechsports.com.