SHAWNEE – Fresh off a win against No. 13 Central Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Baptist Bison will head to Russellville, Ark., to begin Great American Conference play against Arkansas Tech on Friday and Saturday.
The two teams will play a single game on Feb. 17 at 3 p.m. before a Saturday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. OBU has won the last two regular-season series over ATU.
Last season, the Bison swept the Wonder Boys in the regular season before falling to them in the GAC Tournament. In 2021, OBU won two of three in Russellville.
Through six games, OBU is 3-3. Here are a few of the key statistics and where the Bison rank in the GAC:
Batting Average Runs Batted In Home Runs
Trey Furrey | .455 | 7th
Dan Pruitt | 7 RBI | T11th Pruitt | 3 HR | T2nd
Jayden Shafer | .429 | 10th
Kade Self | 7 RBI | T11th
ERA Innings Pitched Strikeouts
Brek Galbreth | 3.27 | 16th Galbreath | 11 IP | 3rd
Jake Hamilton | 11 |10th
Nolan Feazle | 3.86 | 19th ` Galbreath | 8 | 18th
Also of note,
Austin Albright has the best on-base percentage in the GAC at .800. Plus, this Bison team has done a good job in pressure situations. OBU is hitting .299 this season with two out and it has 16 two-out RBI. Leading that category is Self with seven.
In the other dugout is Arkansas Tech, a team with a 4-4 record. One of those wins came against then-No. 13 ranked Central Missouri by a 9-5 tally on Feb. 12. Both ATU and OBU are very close in team statistical rankings. The Wonder Boys are eighth in the conference in team ERA (6.58) while the Bison are right behind (6.61).
As for offense, the Bison are eighth in hitting (.288) while ATU is ninth (.253).
Here are the top contributors for the Wonder Boys so far:
Batting Average Runs Batted In Triples
Brandon Bunton | .400 | 20th Nick Jones | 9 RBI | T10th Sawyer Duddleston | 2 | T1st
ERA Opposing BA Strikeouts
John Gray | 1.00 | 8th Gray | .156 | 5th Gray | 12 | T7th
Another pitcher for ATU to keep an eye out for is Emiliano Mata who has tossed a staff-high 9.2 innings with a 3.72 earned run average. On the offensive end, the Wonder Boys' next-best batter behind Bunton is Nick Jones who has a .333 average. Plus, Cade McBride has a team-high three doubles which are two off the GAC lead.
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