SHAWNEE – A prime opportunity awaits Oklahoma Baptist this coming weekend when it hosts ninth-ranked (NCBWA) Southern Arkansas for a three-game series beginning Friday at Bobby Cox Field at Ford Park.
Friday's action includes a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. before a noon start on Saturday. SAU leads the all-time series 12-6 but as of the last seven games, the Muleriders have four wins compared to the Bison's three.
The Bison have won three of their last four following a 16-6 clubbing of Southeastern on April 12. OBU hit five homers in the game and ran its season total to 87, four off the program's D2 single-season high of 91 attained in 2019.
In the other dugout, the Muleriders have been victorious in four of the last five which includes a 16-5 win over Ouachita yesterday. Like the Bison, SAU possesses a very good offense. Here's where the two teams stack up nationally:
| Oklahoma Baptist |
Southern Arkansas |
| National leader with 87 homers |
11th in on-base percentage (.441) |
| 2nd in slugging (.615) |
12th in scoring (9.6) |
| 14th in scoring average (9.4) |
16th in slugging (.538) |
| t39th in doubles (78) |
38th in hits (366) |
A host of players have helped OBU and SAU reach those marks:
| Oklahoma Baptist |
Southern Arkansas |
| Dan Pruitt: 3rd with 17 HRs; 6th in slugging (.893) |
Tucker Burton: 12 HRs are tied for 27th in D2 |
| Kade Self: 18th in slugging (.825) |
Brandon Nicoll: 17 doubles are 3rd in D2 |
| Alex Schroeder: t12th in RBI (50); t8th in HRs (15) |
Riley Orr: 40th in on-base percentage (.515) |
| Isiah Lissade: tied for GAC lead in hits (55) |
Brett McGee: t17th in RBI (47) |
| Walker Keller: 8th in the GAC in doubles (12) |
Chris Sutton: tied for 20th in runs scored (47) |
On the mound, SAU has one of the top staffs in the GAC and in D2. Jeremy Adorno, a freshman, is second in the country with 91 strikeouts and ranks 32nd in ERA (2.03). He also is atop the GAC leaderboard in opposing batting average (.157). Additionally, teammate Jacob Womack is second in the GAC in strikeouts (76) and has the eighth-best ERA (3.86).
Furthermore, SAU's team ERA of 4.53 is a top-50 mark in the country. They are one of only two GAC schools (Henderson St.) ranked in that category.
Bo Dallas is the leader of the Bison pitching staff. He is second in the GAC in ERA (2.73) and ranks eighth with 56 strikeouts. In his last four starts, he has won three, notched a 1.78 ERA, fanned 22 and limited batters to a .230 average.
After Dallas,
Brek Galbreath has the ninth-most strikeouts (56) in the GAC and possesses a 5.62 ERA. A key part of this weekend's series against SAU will be how the remainder of the OBU staff holds up.
