SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will cap their eight-game road tour in a conference series with the league's top-ranked Lady Muleriders of Southern Arkansas this weekend in Magnolia.
Friday will feature a doubleheader, beginning at 3 p.m., followed by a single game on Saturday at noon to wrap up the series. All games will be played at Dawson Field on the campus of Southern Arkansas.
Tomorrow will be the 20th all-time meeting between the two ball clubs, with SAU holding an 18-1 series lead. OBU claimed their first win in program history against Southern Arkansas in 2021, besting the opposition 3-2 in the series finale in Shawnee.
OBU comes into the series riding a six-game winning streak, with the hopes of earning another victory over the highly-touted Lady Muleriders.
After sweeping Texas Woman's University 5-4 and 6-3 in a midweek doubleheader yesterday, the Bison will make their way fto the natural state.
Wednesday concluded OBU's regular-season non-conference schedule, finishing with a 14-7 record against non-GAC affiliates. The figure is the most non-conference wins in a season since the Bison joined Division II.
During winning streak, the pitching staff of Kayleigh Jones and Aspen Younce struck out 64 batters. Younce led the duo with a 1.83 ERA in 23.0 innings of action, while Jones charted a 2.58 ERA in 19.0 innings.
The two have combined for 368 strikeouts this year, more than other team in Division II.
Jones' 246 strikeouts also leads the nation, averaging 10.7 per seven innings, as she creeps up the all-time Bison strikeout charts with 393 in her career. She is currently fourth, behind Noelle McDowell, who compiled 448 strikeouts from 2011-14.
Freshman Sammie Greene's 22 stolen bases head the GAC, a part of OBU's 48 total that ranks fourth in the league. She has five games with two stolen bases this season.
SCOUTING THE LADY MULERIDERS
Southern Arkansas enters the weekend with a 26-13 overall record, including a 19-5 mark in the conference. The Lady Muleriders hold a GAC-best 11-2 record at home and have swept four league series thus far.
SAU's team ERA of 1.80 leads the GAC and ranks 13th in the country. The Southern Arkansas pitching staff has struck out 253, tied for second in the conference while allowing a league-low 66 earned runs.
In the circle, Kiana Pogroszweski has the second-best ERA in the GAC at 1.45, while Sydney Ward's 2.09 mark isn't far behind. Pogroszweski has 94 strikeouts, with Ward trailing in second with 90. Combined, the duo has 22 wins.
Two others, Macie Welch and Baylie Thornhill, have also spent a considerable amount of time at the dish. Welch has 39 strikeouts in 14 appearances while Thornhill boasts a 1.57 era in 35.2 innings of work.
At the plate, Jade Miller's .407 batting average ranks among the best in the conference. Miller is slugging .671 and leads the team with nine home runs. Her 57 hits rank 10th in Division II with nine strikeouts in 140 at-bats.
Three others, Jaxynn Dyson, Madison Miller, and Alese Casper, are hitting over .300. Dyson's 30 RBIs are a team-best, while her eight home runs rank second.
