SHAWNEE – The second of three Oklahoma Baptist vs. Central Oklahoma matchups comes on Feb. 15 as the Bison and Bronchos square off at 5 p.m. at Wendell Simmons Field. Nine days ago, UCO edged the green and gold, 5-2, during its First Pitch Classic in Edmond.
Most recently, OBU went to Arkadelphia, Ark., and defeated McKendree 6-4 before falling to Missouri Western State 7-3 last weekend. Those results moved the Bison's record to 2-3.
One of the top storylines so far for OBU has been the performance of a couple newcomers.
Jayden Shafer has been outstanding in the batter's box. He leads the team and is third in the GAC with a .600 average. Shafer, a native of Tecumseh, has six hits in 10 at-bats along with a double, a homer and three runs batted in. He also ranks top-five in on-base percentage (.643) and slugging (1.00).
Gabe Irwin has fared well, too. He is third on the team with a .368 average, has seven hits, two doubles and a triple. Also of note, junior
Trey Furrey has collected a team-high nine hits with a .474 batting average. That latter statistic is good for 10
th in the GAC.
On the mound, the Bison have gotten some good stuff from
Brek Galbreath,
Jake Hamilton and
Nolan Feazle. In two games started, Galbreath has the staff's best ERA (3.27) while Hamilton is slotted in the top-10 of the GAC with 11 strikeouts. Hamilton is also allowing a staff-best .233 opponent batting average. As for Feazle, he's got a 3.60 ERA and given up two earned runs in 5.0 innings pitched.
The Bronchos are 7-1 to start the year and have won three straight by a combined 35-14 score. UCO's pitching has been pretty good, ranking in the top-50 in Division II with a 3.82 team earned run average. Three pitchers, Jeb Jenkins, Chris Spry and Marcos Lopez, have led the staff and each have at least 10 strikeouts.
Offensively, UCO is one of the best in the country in stolen bases. They have 37 so far this year. In the batter's box, a trio of players are hitting .400. Cameron Uselton (.444) has a team-high 12 hits and four doubles while Kaleb Glass (.400) also has 12 hits and 12 runs scored. Rounding out the Bronchos' top hitters is Noah Olson who has a .400 average, 10 hits and two homers.
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