GAME INFORMATION
ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 16-7 (9-3 GAC)	NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA RANGERS 13-11 (6-6 GAC)
Friday, March 17 | 5 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO Saturday, March 18 | 1 p.m. | DH Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

FIRST PITCH
The No. 20-ranked Arkansas Tech baseball team is back at home this coming weekend for a series against Northwestern Oklahoma. Playing at home is a welcomed proposition for the Wonder Boys as they are 8-0 at home so far this season. It will be their third GAC series at home with previous series against Arkansas-Monticello and Henderson State resulting in sweeps.
 
This weekend's series against Northwestern Oklahoma is slated to begin on Friday evening with a single game starting at 5 p.m. The series will conclude on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Live coverage for all games in the series can be found at: www.ArkansasTechSports.com/coverage.
 
The Wonder Boys and Rangers have met 27 times in a series that started in 2013 when Northwestern Oklahoma joined the Great American Conference. In terms of the all-time series record, Tech holds a 20-7 lead over Northwestern Oklahoma.
 
The two teams met three times last regular season with all games coming as part of the conference series. That series was won by the Rangers 2-1 after they won the first two games but dropped the finale to Tech.
 

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TALKING TECH                                                       
The Wonder Boys enters their weekend series at home against Northwestern Oklahoma with an overall record of 16-7 and are 9-3 in the GAC. Tech is looking to get back on track after dropping the final two games of the series on the road at Ouachita. It was the first GAC series defeat for the Wonder Boys this season.
 
The Wonder Boys also figure to be decently rested for this weekend against NWOSU as for the first time in four weeks, they did not play a mid-week game leading into the weekend. Those mid-week games have been good to Tech thus far as they are an unblemished 4-0 to this point of the season.
 
Overall, the Wonder Boys enter their game against the Tigers hitting .313 as a team (240-for-766) with 213 runs scored, 46 doubles, eight triples and 24 home runs. Brandon Bunton currently leads the team in batting average at .385 (25-for-65) and is one of nine players that have scored at least 10 runs this season. A total of four players have scored 20 or more runs with Cade McBride and Sawyer Duddleston pacing the team with 28 runs scored each.
 
Keaton Ranallo has been providing the best power production thus far and is leading the team in slugging percentage at .643 and home runs with seven. He is also leading the team in RBIs with 26. Eight other Wonder Boys have hit home runs this season with Duddleston, Markos Cabranes, Sam Stephenson and Logan Schwenke all having multiple homers.
 
On the RBI front, the Wonder Boys have a total of eight players with 10 or more RBIs and six that have surpassed 20.
 
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 6.85 and have struck out 155 batters in 181.1 innings of work.
 
This past weekend, Tech employed a starting rotation of John Gray, Emilano Mata and Marshall Brown against Ouachita. Gray and Mata have both appeared and started six games while Brown was making his first start.
 
In terms of the bullpen for the Wonder Boys, Will Horton has made the most relief appearances thus far with 11. Mason Griffin has five of the team's six saves for the Wonder Boys. Gerald Pintarich has the other.
 
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 14th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 13 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 380-269 record. He has also had six seasons with 30 or more wins which includes the 2014 season in which he led the team a program-record 44 wins and hosting rights for that year's Central Region Tournament.
 
Overall, Dawson is in his 18th year as a head baseball coach at the collegiate level as he spent four years as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and totaled 118 wins. Dawson's combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan stand at 514. He earned the milestone 500^th win in the series opener vs. No. 13-ranked Central Missouri back in February.
 

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SCOUTING NORTWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
The Rangers enter the series against Tech with a 13-11 overall record and are 6-6 in the GAC. Northwestern Oklahoma is coming off a series sweep against Southern Nazarene last weekend and are on a four-game winning streak after beating Oklahoma Panhandle in a mid-week game this past Tuesday.
 
Statistically, the Rangers enter the series with Tech hitting .303 as a team (253-for-836) with 171 runs scored, 51 doubles, six triples and 37 home runs. The leading hitter in terms of average so far is Brandon Holdren at .380 (30-for-79). Holdren is one of eight players with at least three home runs for NWOSU. The leader in that category thus far is Hagen Barcello with eight. Barcello also currently leads the team in RBIs with 27.
 
Seven different Rangers have scored double-digit runs with two that have reached 20 or more. Barcello is currently pacing the team with 24.
 
On the mound, the Rangers have a 5.88 team ERA and have struck out 159 batters in 203.2 innings of work.
 
This past weekend, the Rangers employed a starting rotation of Cole Rodriguez, Will Kates, and Dylan Collins.
 
Outside of those starting arms, the Rangers have used 15 other pitchers in relief roles. Max McClain has made the most relief appearances with nine. The Rangers also have three relievers with made eight appearances. As a team, NWOSU has registered four saves. Cade Phelps has the most with two while Matthew Potts and Jacob Shaw have the other two.
 
Northwestern Oklahoma is led by Ryan Bowen, who is in his sixth season with as head coach of the Rangers. In his time at the helm of Northwestern Oklahoma, Bowen has won 118 games.