GAME INFORMATION
(3) ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 31-18 (23-10 GAC)		(6) OKLAHOMA BAPTIST BISON 28-20 (18-15 GAC)
Friday, May 5 | 6 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO Saturday, May 6 | 1 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO Saturday, May 6 | 4 p.m. (If Necessary) Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

FIRST PITCH
Eleven weekends of conference action has come to a close and now it is time for postseason baseball. The 2023 Great American Conference Baseball Tournament is first up on the schedule and back this year is the opening round series format to kick-off the tournament.
 
Last done in 2017, the opening round series format features the top-four seeded teams hosting one of the bottom-four seeded teams at their home ballpark in a best-of-three series for the right to advance to the final four where a double-elimination tournament will take place next weekend at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale.
 
With the dust settled on the 2023 regular season, Arkansas Tech emerged with a 23-10 record in GAC play, which tied them with Ouachita Baptist, but by way of tie-breakers, Tech garnered the No. 3-seed in the tournament. As the No. 3-seed, Tech earned the right to host the No. 6, which ended up being Oklahoma Baptist after they went 18-15 in conference action.
 
The two teams previously played one another in their normal weekend conference series back in mid-February and represented each other's first conference series of the season. Tech would sweep the series at home.
 
The all-time series, which started in 2015 when the Bison joined the Great American Conference, now stands 15-11 in favor of Oklahoma Baptist.
 
This weekend's series is slated to start on Friday evening with a scheduled first-pitch time of 6 p.m. Game two of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday. The "if necessary" game is also scheduled for Saturday and will take place approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of the game prior.
 
Live coverage for the game can be found at: www.ArkansasTechSports.com/coverage.
 

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TALKING TECH                                                       
The Wonder Boys enter the GAC Tournament Opening Round Series as the No. 3-seed thanks to a 23-10 mark in the GAC during the regular season. Overall, the Wonder Boys posted a 31-18 record and ranked No. 5 in the most-recent NCAA Regional Rankings. Tech is coming off a loss in their most-recent game in the series finale against Harding. Prior to that, the Wonder Boys had claimed the series and had won five-straight and eight of nine.
 
Overall, the Wonder Boys enter their playoff series with the Bison hitting .316 as a team (516-for-1,632) with 405 runs scored, 98 doubles, 16 triples and 41 home runs. Sam Stephenson currently leads the team in batting average at .404 (63-for-156) and is one of six players that have scored at least 40 runs this season. Two have scored 50 or more runs with Sawyer Duddleston and Cade McBride tied for the team-lead with 52.
 
Keaton Ranallo has been providing the best power production thus far and is leading the team in home runs with 11. Ranallo also has 19 doubles and two triples to post a .646 slugging percentage, which is tops on the team. Just off Ranallo's pace in home runs is Logan Schwenke with 10. Eight other Wonder Boys have hit home runs this season with Duddleston, Stephenson, McBride, Markos Cabranes, and Nick Jones all having multiple homers.
 
On the RBI front, the Wonder Boys have a total of six players with 30 or more RBIs and four that have surpassed 40. Ranallo is pacing the team with 50.
 
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 6.23 and have struck out 336 batters in 388.1 innings of work.
 
This past weekend, Tech employed a starting rotation of John Gray, Emiliano Mata and Grant Shahan against Harding. Gray and Mata have both started 13 games while Shahan has now made four starts.  
 
In terms of the bullpen for the Wonder Boys, Will Horton has made the most relief appearances thus far with 22. Mason Griffin has seven of the team's nine saves for the Wonder Boys. He has appeared in 15 games and has a 3.74 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 21.2 innings of work.
 
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 529. 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 OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
The Bison enter the GAC Tournament Opening Round Series as the No. 6-seed thanks to an 18-15 mark in the GAC during the regular season. Overall, the Bison posted a 28-20 record. Oklahoma Baptist is coming off a loss in their last game played, a non-conference road game against Northeastern State. Prior to that, the Bison swept Southern Nazarene in their final conference series of the year to secure their standing in the GAC Tournament.
 
Statistically, the Bison enter their playoff series with Tech hitting .323 as a team (519-for-1,606) with 440 runs scored, 83 doubles, 14 triples and 84 home runs. The leading hitter in terms of average so far is Dan Pruitt at .381 (69-for-181). Pruitt also leads the team in slugging percentage at .796 thanks to 10 doubles, four triples and 19 home runs. His 19 home runs are tied for the team-lead with Alex Schroeder and is 65 RBIs are second on the team. Kade Self leads the team in RBIs with 71
 
Overall, Oklahoma Baptist has 11 players who have hit a home run this season with eight leaving the yard on multiple occasions. Four of those have registered double-digit home run totals.
 
On the mound, the Bison have a 6.57 team ERA and have struck out 420 batters in 381.0 innings of work.
 
This past weekend, the Bison employed a starting rotation of Brek Galbreath, Ryan Turbeville, and Jake Hamilton against Southern Nazarene. All three have appeared in at least 13 games and started at least 11 games. Galbreath and Turbeville have started 13 games while Hamilton has started 11.
 
Outside of that rotation, the Bison have used 10 other pitchers in various roles. Five of those pitchers have made double-digit relief appearances. Garrett Kellogg-Clark leads the team in relief appearances with 17. He is 3-1 with 37 strikeouts and a 9.31 ERA in 29.0 innings of work. As a team, the Bison have registered four saves with all four being notched by separate players.
 
Oklahoma Baptist is led by Chris Cox, who is in his fourth season with as head coach of the Bison. In his time at Oklahoma Baptist, Cox has won 97 games and posted a winning record each season. Prior to becoming head coach at Oklahoma Baptist, Cox spent six seasons as an assistant coach at OKB under his father Bobby Cox. Cox also has assistant coaching experience at Vernon College and Northern Oklahoma College.