Fans heading to Bentonville on Thursday for the GAC Tournament need to be aware that ticket sales are online only. No cash is allowed.
SHAWNEE – The second seed Oklahoma Baptist Bison will face off versus the seven seed Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs on May 1 at 3:30 p.m. Competition comes from the Bentonville Visitors & Convention Bureau/Tiger Athletic Complex.
OBU posted a 34-16 overall record during the regular season and finished in second in the GAC with a 25-7 mark. As for SWOSU, coached by former Bison assistant Jessica Boone who's in her third year in Weatherford, they went 22-24 and 14-19 in the league.
The Bison are 0-4 in GAC Tournament history while the Bulldogs are making their first appearance. Thursday's winner of this game will move on to play either No. 3 Southern Nazarene or No. 6 Arkansas Tech on Friday.
Here are notes and thoughts on the game from coach
Jace Brewer.
- During the regular season, OBU won two of three against Southwestern.
- The scores from the early March series: 3-2, 8-4 and 2-1 (SWOSU's win).
- Southwestern actually out-hit OBU 21-19 and held a slight batting average advantage: .259 to .257.
- The Bison did though produce six homers compared to two for SWOSU.
- Hailey Stanford led the way in the series with a .500 average while Morgan Max and Ally Ryan each homered twice.
- Plus, Greenlee Wells and Kaley Cook had long shots in the series.
- Base-running heavily favors OBU in Thursday's game. Back in March, the Bison registered eight stolen bags while SWOSU didn't attempt a steal.
- This season, the team's 67 homers are most in school history and sixth in the nation. Plus, OBU's 117 stolen bases are No. 15 nationally and the most in school history.
- Furthermore, OBU has produced 274 RBI, third-most in OBU history and 34th in the nation.
- Among other notes, individually, Max's 34 walks in 2025 are second-most in school history while her 53 RBI are third-most.
- Cook has seven triples, tied for 11th in Division II. If she attains another, the freshman will pass Amy Lassetter for the most in school history. Back in 1984, Lassetter registered seven.
- Wells' 15 homers are No. 14 in the country and three away from tying Ally Ryan's single-season record of 18 which was set in 2024.
- In the circle, Jaycee Shaffer's 18 wins are a top-25 NCAA mark while Max's eight saves rank fourth.
- Of significance down the stretch, Jorja Barrett has provided a solid lift for OBU. In her last five appearances she's 4-0, produced a 3.27 ERA and limited opponents to a .232 average.
Head Coach
Jace Brewer:
"SWOSU is a good bunch who's playing well right now. They have an ace in Alexis Taylor who gave us one of our two home losses this spring. She's a very capable pitcher. We know this game will be a dog fight. As for our team, we are very excited to get back to the GAC Tournament and make up for some lost opportunities in the past seasons."
Bulldogs Notes
- SWOSU has won 10 of its last 12 games dating back to an April 7 contest versus Southeastern.
- Most recently, the Bulldogs defeated Arkansas Tech 4-2 last Saturday.
- Southwestern's 22 wins are the most since the program attained 32 back in 2012.
- As mentioned above, the Bulldogs have a talented pitcher in Alexis Taylor. She was named GAC Pitcher of the Week this past Monday.
- She ranks second in the conference with 27 starts and seventh with a 2.89 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
- Taylor is also slotted fourth with 15 wins and eighth with 106 strikeouts.
- Offensively, Chesnie Hewitt is Southwestern's most potent batter. She's 12th in average (.376), fifth in slugging (.688) and second in triples (6). Hewitt has also added 13 doubles and eight homers with 33 RBI, all team-highs.
- Riley Lusk has also had a solid year for SWOSU. She's got a .336 average, 46 hits, 11 doubles and a trio of triples and homers.
- Lastly on the pitching front, Jaycee McKee's five saves leads the staff and are fourth in the GAC.
- As a team, SWOSU ranks eighth in the GAC in batting (.284), seventh in slugging (.417) and 11th in runs scored (188). By comparison, OBU has scored 286 times, second-best in the GAC.
