Bison Prepped For Final Weekend of the Regular Season

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist will play in their final GAC road series as they'll travel to Arkansas Tech to take on the Golden Suns this weekend. The clubs will compete in a three-game series beginning on Friday at 2 p.m. and a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.

Fans can watch the games and follow the live stats through the Arkansas Tech Sports Network.

Historically, ATU owns a 15-12 all-time series lead over the Bison, but have lost four straight against the green and gold. OBU earned its first sweep over Arkansas Tech a year ago, outscoring the opposition 9-1 across three games.

The Bison are coming off its 18th consecutive GAC series victory after sweeping Henderson State to repeat as conference regular season champs. OBU boasts a 27-3 tally against league opponents and is one win away from tying last season's program record (28) for GAC wins.

Overall, Oklahoma Baptist holds a 37-11 mark, their second-best record since joining Division II. The Bison have also racked up the most home wins (19) in the last seven seasons, topping 2017's total of 16.

In April, the Bison posted a 12-1 record and hit .337 while enjoying an ERA of 1.52. The reigning Great American Conference Player of the Week in Adi Reese spearheaded the offensive surge, as she registered team leads in the following categories: batting average (.553), hits (21), RBI (16), slugging (.947), doubles (6), total bags (36), and runs scored (17). Surprisingly enough, she only struck out once. Additionally, she was 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.

The fifth-year infielder hit .636, tallied eight RBI, and totaled seven hits over five games last week. In the series finale against Henderson State, Reese smacked her first career grand slam, the second four-RBI game of her tenure on Bison Hill.

The dynamic duo of Kayleigh Jones and Maggie Place have earned run averages of 1.11 and 1.91 this month. Jones is 6-0 in the circle after striking out 54 batters and limiting opposing teams to a .217 average. Place fanned 22 batters and threw two shutouts en route to five wins in 31.2 innings of work.

Oklahoma Baptist is sitting pretty atop the GAC standings after locking up the No. 1 seed, and can now look forward to closing out the regular season on a high note. As it stands, OBU will open the 2024 GAC Tournament on Friday, May 3, at noon in Bentonville, Arkansas. Furthermore, the Bison were slotted fifth in the first NCAA DII Central Regional polls released on Wednesday.

There are a few milestones lurking for Jones and third-base slugger Ally Ryan. Jones needs just nine strikeouts to reach 1,000 punchouts in her career, while Ryan is one home run away from breaking the all-time school for knocks in a season (17).

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN SUNS

Arkansas Tech is 25-17 with a 17-13 mark in Great American Conference action, following a sweep of Southeastern Oklahoma State. ATU has already clinched a spot in the end-of-the-year tournament and is now playing for seeding as they sit sixth in the latest standings.

The squad is hitting .259 and totals the least amount of hits in the conference (284). In fact, the Golden Suns rank near the bottom in nearly all offensive categories. However, a bright spot has been their 59 doubles, the sixth-best total in the GAC.

Maycie Hardy and Shelby Shavers pace the Golden Suns with batting averages of .324 and .321. The pair are tied for the team lead in hits (36), while Hardy edges the couple with three home runs. Shavers has three triples, which is tied for fifth in the league.

Arkansas Tech owns the league's third-best ERA at 2.89 and has struck out 197 batters while producing six shutouts this season. There have been four significant contributors to ATU's bullpen, led by Bradi Basler who has a 7-4 record and 3.19 ERA in 79.0 innings.

Alexis Findley (2.40 ERA, 4-5), Jaycee McKee (1.62 ERA, 4-2), and Aidan Dayberry (3.86 ERA, 6-4) make up the Golden Suns' lineup.