SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist's (15-2, 3-0 GAC) second Great American Conference series comes this weekend at Southwestern Oklahoma State.
On Friday Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. the two squads meet before a Saturday doubleheader beginning at noon. OBU leads the all-time series 17-12 and have won the last three regular-season series. Below are notes and tidbits on the teams.
For the Bison:
The hitting prowess for OBU cannot be understated. With 27 homers, the team is second in the nation in that category. Plus, the team's .574 slugging mark is sixth. Also, the Bison's 47 stolen bags are a top-10 Division II total.
In the circle, the green and gold are tenth in the country in strikeouts per seven innings (7.69) while its 2.65 ERA is a top-30 mark.
Individually, OBU has a host of front-line players.
Greenlee Wells is the national leader with 10 bombs and 65 total bases. Her 1.275 slugging mark ranks in the top five.
Collectively, six different players have notched multiple homers: Wells,
Ally Ryan (6),
Haley Hacker (3),
Abby Laskowski (3),
Kaley Cook (2) and
Nichelle Marshall (2).
For historical perspective, Ryan has 33 career bombs, third-most all-time and 13 away from Jayme Boyer's OBU record of 46. For Wells, she has 25, tied for seventh-most.
Ryan also has 109 RBI, making her the 14th player in school history to cross the century mark in that category.
In the circle,
Jaycee Shaffer's nine wins are tied for the national lead while her 70 strikeouts are one off the D2 leader. Freshman
Jaycee Kelln is doing a fine job, too, with a 6-1 record and 52 strikeouts.
For the Lady Bulldogs:
SWOSU is struggling to start the season, sitting at 3-13. They lost their GAC opening series at Harding 3-0 last weekend.
Offensively, the Lady Bulldogs hit .240, the seventh-place mark in the GAC. They are also 11th in slugging (.317) and on-base percentage (.285).
In the circle, SWOSU has hit 16 batters, most in the GAC. They also rank seventh in ERA (4.37).
Individually, Landry Bayless' four homers sit in seventh in the conference and 37th in D2. She also leads the team with a .370 average and 17 hits.
The only other SWOSU player with a batting average above .300 is Josie Oakley (.310).
Sophomore Alexis Taylor leads the Southwestern pitching staff. She has a 2.88 ERA with 33 strikeouts.
As a collective, though, SWOSU allows opponents to hit .326, and they've given up 37 extra-base hits including 23 doubles.
