SHAWNEE – Following a week featuring three separate series on the road, Oklahoma Baptist (25-8, 10-4 GAC) returns home to kick off a best-of-three series with No. 17 Southern Arkansas (22-8, 10-4 GAC) on Friday. The teams are set to battle at 5 p.m. tomorrow before concluding the series on Saturday in a doubleheader beginning at noon.
The game can be viewed on the Bison Sports Network with Todd Miller calling the action.
OBU Women of Vision will be in attendance providing free cookies while supplies last, and The Healthy Hive will be selling refreshments during Friday's game. Directly following tomorrow's contest, Oklahoma Baptist Athletics will host its inaugural "Diamond Dig," where fans will get a chance to search the softball field for jewelry with the purchase of a $15 ticket.
OBU will tangle with the Muleriders for the 25th time in program history on Friday. The Bison have never won a series against SAU, as Southern Arkansas holds a 21-3 all-time lead.
Oklahoma Baptist is undefeated at home with a 7-0 record this season. Five wins came versus conference opponents Northwestern Oklahoma State and Southern Nazarene, while the remaining were claimed against Newman. In those contests, the Bison outscored their foes 37-18.
This will be one of the more anticipated series as both squads sit in a four-way tie for first place in the GAC standings. With a win, Oklahoma Baptist could make its first appearance in the NFCA Top 25 DII rankings after being mentioned (RV) for the third time in this week's poll.
Entering Friday night's game, OBU boasts the nation's seventh-best ERA (1.43) and the second-best batting average in the GAC (.305). The Bison lead the nation in strikeouts (314) and have the ninth-most shutouts (9).
Adi Reese and Gwyn Miller played instrumental parts in boosting OBU's batting average last week after the duo combined for 18 hits, 17 RBIs, 11 scored runs, and eight home runs. The numbers pushed Reese's season average to .320 after coming into last week at .286 and Miller's to .433 from .385.
Furthermore, Reese eclipsed her season total (8) of RBIs and home runs (1), as she brought 11 runners in and homered four times. Miller tallied seven RBIs and went yard four times after coming in with just three RBIs and no home runs.
In the pitching lane, Kayleigh Jones picked up wins 16 and 17 of the season, while Olivia Cummings earned her first victory on Bison Hill. Jones led the staff with a 0.94 ERA with 31 punchouts in 22.1 innings of action, while Cummings struck out three to close out the win over Southwest Baptist.
Also of note was senior Aspen Younce, who went 2-0 with wins against SBU and Arkansas-Monticello. Younce struck out 17 batters and gave up just four earned runs to improve her season record to 5-1.
SCOUTING THE MULERIDERS
Southern Arkansas brings a 22-8 overall record to Shawnee after a 2-1 series win over Southern Nazarene a week ago. SAU's other three conference losses came after being swept at Harding on the first weekend of March.
Since, the Muleriders have won seven of their last eight GAC matchups.
SAU fares well in every facet of the game, but their numbers at the plate really stick out. Southern Arkansas leads the conference in the following categories: slugging percentage (.483), on-base percentage (.380), runs scored (163), home runs (29), and total bases (394).
Junior infielder Alyssa Miller is the squad's top slugger with the GAC's fourth-best batting average (.392). Miller adds the most hits (38) and steals (3-3) on the team to go along with 15 RBIs. Ariana Rolle trails with a batting clip of .367, which is sixth in the league. Rolle has 33 hits and 10 RBIs in 27 games.
Gracie King leads SAU in home runs (6) and RBIs (26) but has struck out a team-best 19 times, while Kamryn Moctezuma comes in with five dingers.
In the circle, Sydney Ward has a team-leading 2.14 ERA and 12 wins. Ward has struck out the second most batters in the conference (85) in 98.0 innings of work, including eight complete games. Baylie Thornhill has the second-best earned run average (2.46) and seven wins that featured 60 strikeouts.
