SHAWNEE – The final GAC road trip of the regular season is on the schedule for Oklahoma Baptist (21-18, 14-13 GAC) this weekend as the green and gold visit Arkansas-Monticello.
UAM (18-20, 13-14 GAC) is a game behind the Bison who sit in seventh place in the standings. The top eight teams by the end of next weekend's slate will qualify for the conference tourney which is set to start May 7 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Weevils have posed problems for OBU, most specifically the last two series during the 2019 and 2021 campaigns. UAM won two of three a year ago and then swept the three games in 2019.
OBU is coming off a big 12-6 win at Central Oklahoma on April 19. In that game, the team ran its season home run total to 94, breaking the previous school record of 91 set during the 2019 season.
Here's a look at some of the top statistical marks for the Bison in Division II and the GAC:
| No. 1 in D2 in home runs (94) |
Dan Pruitt: 19 HRs are 3rd; .925 slugging ranks 2nd |
| No. 3 in D2 in slugging (.608) |
Alex Schroeder: t5th in HRs (18); t11th in RBI (56)
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| No. 17 in scoring (9.3) |
Isiah Lissade: t32rd in total bases (110) |
| T22nd in runs scored (363) |
Kade Self: fifth in the GAC in slugging (.759) |
For Monticello, it does not exactly possess a top-tier offense. In the GAC, the Weevils are tenth in team batting average (.281) and ninth in runs scored (274). Individually, Cade Thompson has had an outstanding season. He is listed in the top-ten in the conference in these categories: batting average, slugging, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits, home runs and RBI.
On the pitching front,
Bo Dallas has been the leader for the Bison staff over the last few weeks. In his last four appearances, he is 4-0, posted a 1.97 ERA and struck out 29 batters. He currently has the second-best ERA (2.80) in the GAC and is tied with teammate
Brek Galbreath for the fifth-most strikeouts (68) in the conference.
As a unit, OBU has struck out a conference-best 362 batters and it ranks 20th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3).
Leading the Weevils' pitching efforts are two players: Mason Philley and Spencer Johnston. Each have an ERA no greater than 4.71 while Philley has the fourth-most strikeouts (71) and second-best opponent batting average (.190) in the GAC. Additionally, Derek Potts ranks in the top-ten with 61 strikeouts. Collectively, UAM sits in second in the conference in batters struck out looking (96) and third in opposing batting average (.260).
