DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State remains on the road for its next GAC outing versus Southern Nazarene. The Savage Storm gets the series going on Friday, Feb. 28, at 3 p.m. with a single game before playing two on Saturday, starting at noon.
SERIES NOTES
- Southeastern leads the all-time series against SNU 37-19 but is coming off a sweep to the Crimson Storm last year. Southern Nazarene won all three games in Durant by scores of 4-1, 4-2, and 10-1.
- In the last 15 games in Bethany, SE is 8-7 and has won its previous two three-game series against the Crimson Storm as the road team. The blue and gold's most recent trip to Bethany in 2023 resulted in a 2-1 series win with 2-1 and 10-3 victories.
STORM WATCH
Southeastern (7-9, 0-3) dropped its GAC series opener at Henderson State as the Storm fell to 7-9 overall and 0-3 in league action. The blue and gold struggled at the weekend to chain hits together with runners on base, stranding 19 runners over the three contests. Across the series, SE totaled 18 hits for nine runs scored and had six home runs.
India McMurray continued to show her power over the weekend, recording six hits in nine at-bats and had three home runs and four RBIs. The Dallas native is tied for the second most home runs in the GAC with five and ranks second in the SE lineup in hits with 17 on a .447 batting average. Southeastern has quickly proven to be one of the best power lineups in the conference, as they top the conference with 17 homers this season.
Iliana Olivares remains the leader in hits for the Southeastern lineup with 18, while
Sage Harlow paces the side with 11 runs batted in. After opening GAC action, SE is batting .295 as a unit with 134 hits and has scored 70 runs. Olivares tallied three hits over the series against HSU, and Harlow had a two-hit game in the series finale.
The Southeastern pitching staff is led by
Emily Simmons, who holds a 4.63 ERA across 39.1 innings of work and is tied for a team-high 37 strikeouts. The Houston native made one appearance against Henderson State, throwing 5.0 frames with four runs allowed and seven punchouts.
Sheyenne Cheek pitched the final game of the series and had a season-high six strikeouts, bringing her to 11 on the year.
PREVIEWING SOUTHERN NAZARENE
Southern Nazarene enters the weekend series 8-8 overall and 1-2 in conference player after dropping a series to Southern Arkansas. SNU lost the first two games but avoided the sweep with a 3-0 win in game three. This weekend's series marks the first true home games for the Crimson Storm, who had to move five home contests originally scheduled earlier this season due to weather.
SNU has produced the third most hits so far this season across the conference with 128 knocks, which have led to 99 runs scored. In addition, Southern Nazarene tops the leaderboard in tripes with eight, led by Kenedi Morelock with three. Kristen Mullendore paces the Crimson Storm lineup with 20 hits on a .400 batting average and is one of four players with double-digit RBIs (12), with Hailey Evans leading the way with 15.
