SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist (15-14) appears to have found an offensive groove as it prepares for East Central (6-25) this coming weekend for a Great American Conference series.
The Bison play March 31 at 6 p.m. before an April 1 doubleheader starting at 1. OBU brings a 23-game winning streak over the Tigers into the weekend as well as a 35-4-2 all-time record. Earlier this season, OBU defeated ECU 8-3 in Ada.
Just the other day, the green and gold torched Southeastern Oklahoma State 17-4. In that game, OBU dialed up 13 hits, six of which were homers. Two of those went to
Troy Shields while
Jose Parga,
Dan Pruitt,
Alex Schroeder and
Kade Self got the rest. The Bison also dialed up 17 runs batted in, its second-most since posting 20 against Pittsburg State on Feb. 4.
Starting last weekend at Southern Arkansas, and in Wednesday's game at SE, the Bison attack has made some serious strides. They have averaged nearly 11 runs per game, posted a team slugging mark of .632 and driven in 84.
Shields and Schroeder have notched the highest slugging marks at 1.600 and 1.133, respectively, while Pruitt, Self and Parga have driven in at least eight RBI.
On the pitching front,
Logan Kimbro and
Jordan Brewer were effective in the last four games. They each had ERAs no higher than 3.60 and came up with a combined nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings pitched.
The Tigers are coming off a three-game series against Henderson State on March 25-26. ECU shocked the Reddies in game one, 4-1, its lone GAC win this season. HSU followed by winning the next two games 19-0 and 8-4.
ECU's tough season under first-year coach Sunny Golloway, a former assistant at Oklahoma and head coach at Auburn, has seen struggles in the batter's box. The Tigers are last in batting, slugging, on-base percentage, runs scored, hits and RBI.
Individually, Nolan Herchock and Christian Whitaker are ECU's most potent batters with .308 and .333 averages, respectively. They also have three triples each. Additionally, Dawerlyn Amancio has a team-high 22 RBI and four homers.
The Tigers' staff has had struggles, too. Their team ERA is at 10.33 and opponents are batting .352. ECU's best pitcher is Bryan Terry who has pitched 49.2 innings, posted an earned run average of 6.89 and struck out 46 batters.
