Bison Earn Impressive Sweep over #13 SAU

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist earned its second series victory over Great American Conference power and No. 13-ranked (NCBWA) Southern Arkansas on Friday, winning the doubleheader by 4-3 and 8-2 scores.

It marked the first time since the 2016 season that OBU took two-out-of-three versus the Muleriders.  

Key Leaders

• Jacob Campbell had multiple hits in both games and batted .571. He also had one putout with seven assists from his shortstop position.
• Troy Shields batted .500 going 4-for-8 with one RBI.
• Both Alex Schroeder and Spencer Dickinson each drove in three.
• The Bison staff of Brek Galbreath, Cameron Pool, Bryant Thornton and William Ellis limited Southern Arkansas to just five runs on seven hits. That group also struck out 15, gave up just one extra-base hit and induced a total of 12 fly-ball outs and 19 groundouts.

What Went Right

• Rising to the occasion. Head Coach Chris Cox said in the pregame that the ball was in his team's court. Over the course of five-plus hours of competition, the team responded with multiple double plays, two-out RBI and responded each time SAU made a play.
• Pitching. OBU's ERA after 16 innings was 2.81. The Bison staff, for just the second time this year, didn't allow any more than three runs in consecutive contests. The last time it happened was March 10 at Southeastern when the team gave up a combined three runs.
• Two-out hitting. Specifically in game one, multiple players had two-out knocks. Matt Marsic provided one in the fifth which tied the game at 2-2. Then an inning later, Will Joseph and Dickinson got into the fun with a couple more run-scoring hits. Those knocks boosted the Bison lead to 4-2.
• Game-saving double play. In the top of the ninth in game one, SAU had the tying run on third. Thornton then induced a game-ending, 6-4-3 double play to help OBU win 4-3.
• Playing with the lead. In game two, the Bison never trailed. In fact, they got out to a 4-1 lead after Campbell scored on a wild pitch in the third. Schroeder and Dickinson also provided a few RBI for the green and gold in that time.
• Pool. His performance was crucial for OBU during the nightcap. He tossed 5.1 frames, allowed two runs and struck out six.
• Closing time. Thornton and Ellis were specifically brought to OBU in the offseason to help the team close out tight games. Over 2.1 innings combined, just one hit was attained for the visitors and most importantly no runs were scored.

What Went Wrong

• Not much. Offensively the Bison did strand 13 runners over the two games while on the defensive end, the OBU staff issued 10 walks.

On The Horizon

• Tomorrow at 1 p.m., the two teams will meet for the finale.