SHAWNEE – No. 23 Oklahoma Baptist returns home tomorrow to host the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs on Easter Weekend. The series will begin Thursday with a single game at 5 p.m. before concluding in a doubleheader on Friday at 1 p.m.
OBU climbed to No. 23 in this week's NFCA Division II Top 25 poll after sweeping East Central. The Bison cracked the rankings for the first time in school history a week ago at No. 25 and have been mentioned in the national discussion five times this season.
Oklahoma Baptist enters its series versus SWOSU with a 30-9 overall record, including a 15-5 GAC mark that is tied with two others, Harding and Southeastern Oklahoma State, for first-place rights. The green and gold look to stack more wins this week in their return to Bison Softball Park, where they boast a 9-1 record.
OBU's chances are likely as they lead the conference with the country's 10th-best ERA (1.63). Led by senior twirler Kayleigh Jones, the Bison pitching staff has the most strikeouts (345) and the sixth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.65) in DII.
Jones has been outstanding in the circle, accumulating a 21-5 record thus far. This is where she stands in the nation's statistical categories: 1st in strikeouts (226), 2nd in shutouts (9), 3rd in victories (21), 3rd in complete games (18), and 9th in ERA (0.81). She needs three wins to break the OBU single-season record (23) for victories, held by Hannah Wilbur, and five wins to become the all-time program leader for career victories (59). The latter was set by Kena Freeman in 2003.
Jones is joined in stardom by infielder Emily Adler, who owns the GAC's best batting average at .434. Adler also leads her conference companions in hits (53) and on-base percentage (.500), while heading the Bison in RBIs (29). If that's not impressive enough, she has racked up those stats with only five strikeouts.
Freshman Kennedy Clark has the second-best average at .391, coming off a weekend hitting .625 and slugging .875. Clark's RBI single in Saturday's rubber match gave Oklahoma Baptist its lone run to secure the sweep at ECU.
Adi Reese comes in batting .316 with the sixth-most home runs in the GAC, while Sydney Adler pairs a .329 average with the third-best on-base percentage on the squad (.448).
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Southwestern Oklahoma State is tied for last place in the league with a 9-30 overall record and a 4-16 tally in GAC play. Despite their woes, SWOSU has stolen a win from two of the conference's top-five teams, No. 13 Harding and Arkansas Tech.
The Bulldogs come off a midweek split at Newman, where they defeated the Jets 4-3 before falling 6-5 in the finale.
Statistically, SWOSU has the worst batting average in the league (.223) and the third-highest ERA at 5.01. However, the Bulldogs recently showed life at the plate after out-hitting Newman 24-14 on Tuesday.
Sophomore Maddie Rahon paces SWOSU with a .323 batting average and 40 hits. Katie Boline and Kaylee Barkley trail hitting .283 and .281. Junior utility player Jordan Wadley adds the most home runs (4) and the team's best slugging percentage (.433).
In the pitching lane, Brianna Cryer and Taryn Westbrook have 20 appearances apiece with ERA's of 6.64 and 6.96. Cyrer leads the duo with 54 strikeouts and five wins, while Westbrook has 32 punchouts with a 2-14 record.
