SHAWNEE – The matchup is nearly dead-even. And on Friday night, Oklahoma Baptist and Arkansas Tech will face off again in the Great American Conference Tournament with the winner of the best two-of-three series advancing to Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Arkansas next week.
OBU, the sixth seed, is 28-20 this season. There's plenty of motivation heading to Russellville as the Bison were swept there during the regular season. Those scores were 10-0, 12-9 and 3-2. Plus, in last season's GAC tourney, ATU eliminated the Bison on the third day in Hot Springs.
As for the Wonder Boys, the three seed, they are 31-18 this year and 15-6 at home. That includes winning seven of their last nine at Baswell Field. In series history, OBU leads 15-11 against the Wonder Boys.
As for the matchup this coming weekend, these teams are almost equally stacked. Take a look:
| Batting Average: OBU - 1st - .325 | ATU - 2nd - .316 |
RBI: OBU - 1st - 403 | ATU - 3rd - 357 |
| Runs Scored: OBU - 1st - 433 | ATU - 2nd - 405 |
ERA: ATU - 8th - 6.23 | OBU - 9th - 6.47 |
| Hits: ATU - 1st - 516 | OBU - 3rd - 510 |
Opposing BA: ATU - 6th - .288 | OBU - 7th - .289 |
Individually, we'll start with the Bison, who have players scattered across the GAC rankings:
Dan Pruitt | 19 HR | 2nd | .808 Slugging | 2nd | .384 BA | 4th
Kade Self | 71 RBI | 1st | 69 Hits | 4th | .373 BA | 7th
Alex Schroeder | 19 HR | 2nd | 54 RBI | 7th | 124 Bases | 5th
Furthermore,
Troy Shields is fifth in slugging (.680) while
Isiah Lissade leads in runs scored (64). On the pitching front,
Brek Galbreath and
Jake Hamilton have been highly effective this year. Galbreath is tied for second with seven wins and checks in at No. 12 with 62 strikeouts. As for Hamilton, he is fourth in strikeouts (95) and sixth in opposing batting average (.239).
Like the Bison, ATU is plenty good on the offensive end. Here are their key leaders:
Sam Stephenson | .404 BA | 2nd | .484 On-Base | 8th
Sawyer Duddleston | 5 Triples | 2nd | 49 RBI | 12th | 24 HBP | 1st
Keaton Ranallo | .646 Slugging | 8th | 66 Hits | 10th | 19 Doubles | 4th
Headlining ATU's pitching is John Gray. He is fourth in ERA (3.43), tied for seventh with 72 strikeouts and tenth in opposing batting average (.255). Plus, Mason Griffin has seven saves which slots him fourth in the GAC. Also of note, Emiliano Mata checks in at No. 8 in ERA (4.25) and opposing BA (.245).
