SERIES INFORMATION
NO.2-SEED ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 33-20	NO.8-SEED EAST CENTRAL TIGERS 23-24
GAME ONE Thursday, May 7 | 6 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO GAME TWO Friday, May 8 | 6 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO GAME THREE (IF NECESSARY) Saturday, May 9 | 1 p.m. Baswell Field | Russellville, Ark. LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO

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LEADING OFF
Winners of their respective brackets last weekend in Hot Springs, the No.2-seed Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys and No. 8-seed East Central Tigers will now face off in a best-of-three series to determine the overall tournament champion and secure their spot in the upcoming NCAA Central Region Tournament.
 
The series is scheduled to take place over the course of three days starting on Thursday, May 7 with all games taking place at Baswell Field.
 
That initial game of the series is slated for a 6 p.m. start time. Game two of the series will be played at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 8. If the series is not decided through the first two games, the "IF Necessary" game will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 9.
 
Historically, the Wonder Boys and Tigers have met 64 times before this weekend's championship series. The two have already played each other three times with Tech sweeping the regular season series in Russellville near the end of March. Tech currently leads the series 49-15.
 

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TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
After the first weekend of the GAC Tournament, the Wonder Boys now enter the Championship Series with a 33-20 overall record.
 
Statistically, the Wonder Boys are hitting .285 as a team (472-for-1,657) with 350 runs scored, 100 doubles, nine triples and 30 home runs. Kirby Jenkins currently leads the team in batting average at .356 (64-for-180). Jenkins has also been the biggest power threat for the Wonder Boys as he leads the team with a .644 slugging percentage thanks to 16 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs. Jenkins also leads the team in RBIs with 55 and runs scored with 53.
 
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.74 and have struck out 363 batters in 427.1 innings of work.
 
Cole Dickson, Creighton Jacobitz and Daniel Hutchison all made starts over Tech's weekend in Hot Springs and figure to be among the rotation this weekend for the Championship Series.
 
Jacobitz is 7-4 with a 3.42 ERA and has 71 strikeouts in 81.2 innings. Hutchison is 9-5 with a 4.46 ERA and has 56 strikeouts in 70.2 innings. Dickson is 4-4 with a 5.08 ERA and has 69 strikeouts in 67.1 innings.
 
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 17th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 16 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 482-334 record. He has also had nine 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 21st 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. His combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan have him with a career record of 633-445.
 

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SCOUTING EAST CENTRAL
East Central enters the Championship Series of the GAC Tournament with a 23-25 overall record.
 
Offensively, the Tigers are hitting .311 as a team (501-for-1,611) with 336 runs scored, 80 doubles, 12 triples and 28 home runs. They are led in hitting by Max Tremblay at .375 (66-for-176). Tyler Akers has been the biggest power threat for the Tigers as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .500 thanks to nine doubles, two triples and three home runs. Tremblay also leads the team in RBIs with 44 while Akers leads the team in runs scored with 59.
 
On the mound, the Tigers have an 8.19 team ERA and have struck out 322 batters in 390.1 innings of work.
 
The Tigers used a weekend rotation of Ryan Dembroski, Caleb Peek and Joel Hogan in their weekend in Hot Springs. Those three figure to be in the mix in the rotation for the Championship Series.
 
Dembroski is 2-2 with a 5.25 ERA and has 51 strikeouts in 61.1 innings. Peek is 2-3 with a 7.03 ERA and has 42 strikeouts in 48.2 innings. Hogan is 2-4 with a 10.04 ERA and has 33 strikeouts in 37.2 innings.
 
The Tigers are led by Kevin Paxson, who is in his third season as head coach at East Central. In his time at ECU, Paxson is 46-101.