SHAWNEE – Another pivotal home series is nearing for Oklahoma Baptist on April 12-13 when it welcomes Ouachita to Bobby Cox Field at Ford Park.
The Bison and Tigers will open with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Friday before a noon start on Saturday. Todd Miller will be on the call of all the games on the Bison Sports Network.
Coach
Chris Cox's team is 24-14 and 13-11 in the Great American Conference. On the other side, Ouachita's Luke Howard has his Tigers sitting at 21-17 with the same league record. Both teams are tied for sixth in the standings.
Since the two schools started playing in the D2 era (2016-pres.) the Bison have won 18 of 25 games. Most recently, the Bison defeated Ouachita 6-3 in the GAC Tournament last year at Arvest Ballpark. However, Ouachita has won each of the last two regular-season series.
With three weekends remaining in GAC play, here are some notes and tidbits on the Bison:
- Last week, Alex Schroeder hit three homers to move his career mark to 58. He needs just one more to become the GAC's all-time leader. He is currently tied with former Southern Arkansas player Brett McGee who reached that total in 229 games. Schroeder has played in 141 on Bison Hill.
- Also of note for Schroeder, his 58 bombs are the most among active career leaders in D2 while his 186 RBI are seventh-most.
- Fellow senior Isiah Lissade has also moved up the charts considerably this year. He is sitting at 199 hits and needs just one more to become the fourth Bison ever to reach 200. He has also gone to the plate 580 times, eighth-most ever. Finally, his 177 runs scored are third-most all-time. Lissade needs just two more to pass Daryl McCollough (1986-89) who attained 178. This season, Lissade is eighth nationally in hits (59) and 24th in runs (47).
- Speaking of hitting, OBU has three players slotted top-62 in Division II in that category. In addition to Lissade, Schroeder is No. 52 with 52 knocks while Will Joseph sits in 62nd with 51.
- Junior Troy Shields continues to aid the Bison attack. He's hitting a career-high .348 with 47 RBI, another personal-best. Shields also has 11 homers, two away from tying the total he reached last season.
- As a team, OBU's offense is among the best. Their 61 bombs are No. 5 in the country while their .554 slugging mark is ninth. Plus, the team's .331 batting average is 19th.
- How good was the pitching performance by Bryant Thornton, Ryan Turbeville and Jake Wellington in the finale versus SWOSU last weekend? That trio gave up a combined two earned runs to the Bulldogs. It marked the ninth time in 38 games that an OBU staff limited an opponent to no more than two earned runs.
- Speaking of Turbeville, who got the win against Southwestern on April 6, his last three appearances have brought only one earned run allowed in 6.2 innings, seven strikeouts and four hits given up.
- Brek Galbreath earned his 24th career win on April 5 when the Bison defeated SWOSU 10-4. That is good for sixth place all-time. The senior trails Boyd Shoemaker (1956-59; 27) by three wins to crack the top-five.
- OBU's pitching staff has generated an 8.7 strikeouts-per-nine innings total. That's good for 52nd in the nation. Cameron Pool leads the staff in that category at 9.63.
Ouachita has one of the most complete teams in the nation. They rank 12th in D2 with 56 homers while sitting in 22nd with a 4.20 ERA. The Tigers are also No. 2 in the GAC and 19th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (3.44).
On the offensive end, Michael Quinones leads the Tigers. He's got the fifth-best (GAC) batting average (.379), fifth-most homers (10) and third-highest slugging mark (.733). Earlier this season, the senior had a 13-game hitting streak.
Another key Tiger is Dustin Bermudez. He's No. 2 in the GAC with 14 doubles and seventh with 85 total bases. Bermudez is also a very good reliever having notched three saves, eighth-most in the GAC.
Chase Oberle has been one of the GAC's top pitchers this season. His 1.74 ERA is best in the league and ranks 11th nationally. He also has 54 strikeouts, seventh-most in the GAC.
Oberle is joined by Cooper Timmons and Luke House who also are slotted top-seven in the GAC with 64 and 54 strikeouts, respectively. Timmons had an 11-strikeout performance earlier this season versus East Central on March 16.
