Storm Face NWOSU in GAC Home Opener Friday and Saturday

DURANT, Okla. – Southeastern Oklahoma State returns home after six straight road games to host Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Savage Storm and the Rangers begin the series on Friday, Mar. 7, with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. and will conclude the series on Saturday at noon.
 
SERIES NOTES

• Heading into this weekend's series, the Storm lead the all-time series against NWOSU 34-6 and have only lost once to the Rangers in the last 17 meetings. SE holds a 16-2 record over Northwestern when playing in Durant and has won eight straight home series.
• Last year, Southeastern swept Northwestern in Piedmont after weather forced the game in Alva to be moved. Sage Harlow had six hits over the three games and racked up two RBIs and three runs scored.

 
STORM WATCH
Southeastern enters the series against Northwestern Oklahoma State 8-11 overall and 1-5 in the GAC standings. SE dropped its most recent league action at Southern Nazarene, as the Crimson Storm took two out of the three games. The Savage Storm were able to pick up a win in game three, 15-7, after exploding for eight runs in the top of the seventh.
 
Sabetha Sands paced the Southeastern lineup during the Southern Nazarene series with five hits in 11 plate appearances and had four RBIs. Sands tallied two more doubles for her eighth of the season, which leads the conference and is tied for the 10^th most in Division II. The Checotah, Okla. native is tied for the second most hits on the team with 20 and is batting .317 with 31 total bases.
 
India McMurray racked up five RBIs over the weekend and is now the team leader in runs batted in with 15. McMurray is one of two players batting over .400 this season and has 20 hits, including two doubles and five home runs. Southeastern after two GAC series is batting .296 as a team with 90 runs scored on 160 hits. The Storm rank in the top three in both doubles (3^rd) and home runs (2^nd), while totaling the third most bases (242) in the conference.
 
Trinity Oden made two appearances for SE against Southern Nazarene, with 6.0 innings of relief work in game one and starting game three. The Atlanta, Texas native got six strikeouts over 9.2 frames of work and allowed six runs on 13 hits. This season, Oden has tallied the third most strikeouts by a freshman in the GAC with 43 in 42.0 innings of work and holds a 4.00 ERA. The SE pitching staff sits ninth in the conference with an ERA of 4.81 and has produced the fourth most strikeouts (109). 
 
PREVIEWING NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
Northwestern Oklahoma State shares a similar conference record with SE, as the Rangers sit 1-5 in the league standings and are 4-10 overall. NWOSU's most recent outing saw them drop all three games to East Central at home after going 1-2 against Arkansas Tech. This weekend's trip to Durant will be the first road test for the Rangers, who have played six home games and eight neutral-site contests.
 
Despite its record, Northwestern has one of the top batting averages in the league, hitting .325 with 125 hits and 72 runs scored. Jaydn Muns helps lead the Ranger lineup with a team-high 20 hits and 12 RBIs on a .408 clip, while Avery Clark holds a team-best .425 batting average with 17 knocks. In the circle, Kathryn Jones and Chloe Brown have combined for 69.1 of the 90.1 innings played so far, and both have 20 or more strikeouts.