SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist's (12-2) Great American Conference slate is set to begin Feb. 20-21 when Arkansas-Monticello (7-5) comes to town for a three-game series.
Game one comes Friday at 6 p.m. before a Saturday doubleheader beginning at noon. Todd Miller will have the call of Friday night's contest while Saturday's games will be live streamed only.
Here are quick hits on both squads.
For the Bison:
OBU is the national leader with 20 homers, ranks in the top eight with 35 stolen bags and is slotted 22nd with 22 doubles.
Plus, the team's .545 slugging mark is another top-20 NCAA ranking.
Greenlee Wells is off to a fabulous start. She's the only player in D2 with eight doubles and eight homers and she leads with 28 RBI. Wells also ranks fifth in slugging (1.191).
Pitcher
Jaycee Shaffer's eight wins are No. 2 in the country while her 58 strikeouts are second as well. She's also fourth with five complete games.
As a staff, OBU strikes out 7.54 batters per seven innings, the 10th-best mark in D2. Also, the group has issued 48 walks, 15th-best in the country.
Sophomore
Haley Hacker has posted these numbers so far: .600 batting average, .900 slugging and .676 on-base percentage. Her BA and OBP marks are top-18 NCAA totals.
Lastly,
Kaley Cook's 11 stolen bags are 10th in the country. She already has 53 for her career, fourth-most in school history.
In terms of GAC competition, the last time the Bison lost a series at home was during the 2022 season versus Harding. That's a span of 21 series.
For the Cotton Blossoms:
UAM has lost four of its last six but is coming off a 6-5 win over Fort Hays State on Feb. 14.
The Blossoms are the GAC leader and rank 20th nationally with a .978 fielding percentage. They have also drawn 12 hit-by-pitch, the 10th-best mark in the country.
Pitching-wise, UAM's ERA is 4.66. That's eighth in the league and 128th in the nation. The Blossoms are also eighth in batting average (.247).
Lainey Tippen has been hit eight times. That's No. 2 in D2 and tops in the GAC. She's also got the fourth-best on-base mark (.571) in the conference.
Tippen and Maddie Moore each have eight stolen bags as well. That's No. 28 in the nation.
Individually, Moore has the team's best batting average (.370) while Dacia Sexton, Ashlynne Vote and Makenzie Martin have each driven in seven.
UAM has only hit three homers, ranking 11th in the GAC. Vote, Ronnie Johnson and Cada Collins have tallied the long shot this season for the Blossoms.
In the circle, Martin has the most wins (3) and strikeouts (21) while Jadyn Barger possesses the team's top ERA (3.23).
