ALVA, Okla. – After a 5-3 start to the season, the Northwestern Oklahoma State baseball team will get their 2018 Great American Conference schedule started this weekend against Harding University.

Due to weather forecasts in Searcy, Ark., the series has been moved to Alva for a Saturday and Sunday series with a double header slated for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday and a noon start on Sunday. The Rangers will be looking to pick up their first series victory over Harding since their inclusion in the GAC.

The Bisons have started off their 2018 campaign with a series victory over Missouri Western State, a split with St. Edwards, and a victory over Williams Baptist College and are coming off a season in which they went 23-29 overall and 14-19 in conference play. The Rangers picked up a 6-5 victory over the Bisons a season ago during their three game series, but dropped the other two games by finals of 9-1 and 5-3.

A refreshed Ranger ball club will surely provide Harding with a stiff test, especially at the plate as Northwestern will enter the series with a team batting average of .255 and will be coming off a Wednesday night non-conference battle with Northeastern Oklahoma that saw the Rangers put together a 19-hit performance. A revamped approach at the plate as well as the emergence of several reliable bats have given the Ranger bats a heavy dose of confidence heading into the weekend's games.

"Our offense played really well and we kept coming back throughout the game and our guys kept having quality at bats," head coach Ryan Bowen said, "I have a lot of confidence in our line-up right now and where our offense is at."

The top half of the Ranger line-up has been solid since the beginning of the season during the Ranger's opening weekend series sweep of Christian Brothers University. Redshirt sophomore Daschal Johnson has gotten his season off to a torrid start, hitting .480 in his seven games of action with a team-high 11 runs and has been reaping the benefits of an off-season full of hard work.

Johnson and designated hitter Jorin Van Amstel, who leads the team with 13 hits and has posted a batting average of .419 thus far, have combined for 17 RBI's and have been leaders at the plate that hitting coach Tyle Hankins will continue to rely on to produce.

"They have been working hard and I feel like we are finally starting to get it going at the plate," coach Hankins said, "We have some guys that are really locked in and Jorin and Dash have been setting the tone for us at the plate."

Junior Luis Mendoza has also emerged as a consistent presence at the plate, hitting .316 in his five starts on the year after working his way into the starting line-up. Coach Bowen and coach Hankins will also welcome back junior Justin Bundy to the line-up after the transfer had to sit out of the Ranger's series last week with Missouri Southern State due to flu-like symptoms.

A Rangers pitching staff that is working towards hitting their stride in the opening conference series will once again rely on senior Walker Wharton, who has been sensational in his two starts so far this season with two wins and a 0.55 ERA. The Ben Franklin, Texas native has given up just one earned run in his 16.1 innings of work and will face off with a Harding line-up that will present their traditional fundamental approach at the plate.

"Harding is always really disciplined and they're well coached so I expect them to be a lot better this season because they return a lot of their players," coach Bowen said, "The biggest things that we're going to have to do is throw strikes, not make mistakes defensively, and not give them extra base runners because they are not going to beat themselves."

Harding will be led by a trio of hitters currently hitting above .300 in Connor Kelly, Chris Taylor, and Grant Guest and currently presents a team-average of .272. The Bisons will also rely on starting pitchers Austin Allen and Tanner Smith, who will have ERA's of 2.38 and 2.61 entering the series.

With the conference schedule getting underway over the weekend, the Rangers will be looking to showcase their improvement over a season ago and continue on their solid start to their 2018 season.