SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist (33-6, 19-2 GAC) begins a tough stretch with a three-game series against Harding on April 9-10 on Bison Hill. Over the next four weekends, the Bison will play the current second through fourth place conference squads.
OBU is in first place with a one-game lead over Arkansas Tech (29-8, 18-3 GAC) while Harding sits at 21-14 and 16-5 in the league. In between ATU and HU is Southern Arkansas who possesses a 34-5 overall and 17-4 GAC mark.
There is plenty of motivation for the green and gold coming into Senior Weekend. Last season, OBU won the regular season series over Harding, made it to the GAC Tournament Championship and then watched as Harding was chosen over OBU for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Todd Miller will be on the call on Thursday's doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. before communications director
Clayton Coffman will get the call of Friday's finale at noon. Here are notes on the teams.
For the Bison:
OBU has won seven of nine and are three wins away from matching last year's total of 36.
In last weekend's sweep at Northwestern, freshman
Naomi Redman entered when the Bison trailed in games two and three. Over 9.2 innings, the freshman allowed one earned run, produced a 0.72 ERA and didn't give up an extra-base hit. OBU rallied to win both.
Greenlee Wells broke
Morgan Max's single-season walks record against NWOSU. The senior has 40 this year, besting Max's total of 37 from 2025. Wells is also one homer and four RBI away from breaking those school records too.
Wells' 18 homers are tops in the country and she's second in slugging (1.075). Get this, Wells has only 19 strikeouts in 107 at-bats this year.
Sophomore
Kaley Cook has 41 stolen bags. She had 42 last year and is five away from tying the single-season record of 46 set by Mary May in 1993. Plus, Cook's 11 career triples are slotted fourth in the school history while her 83 steals are good for third.
Offensively, OBU is as good as anyone. The rank second in the country with 57 bombs and its 7.05 scoring average and 251 RBI are top-20 D2 totals. The Bison have also drawn 173 walks, a top-five national mark.
In the circle, OBU has some room for improvement. In eight of the last 13 games, the Bison have allowed at least four runs. The team's 3.58 ERA is fifth in the GAC.
Senior
Jaycee Shaffer's 17 wins are eighth nationally while
Jaycee Kelln's 12 victories are No. 44 in the country. Shaffer also ranks 17th with 128 strikeouts.
For Harding:
The team from Searcy, Ark., lost two of three at Southern Arkansas last weekend. In game one, they led 1-0 after three before falling 3-1. Then in the finale, with the game tied at 1-1 in the eighth, HU left the bases loaded with no outs before SAU scored a walk-off homer in the ninth.
Pitching has led HU this season. They are fourth in the GAC in ERA (3.04), third in hits allowed per seven innings (6.40) and second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.87).
Harding is also second in the league with eight shutouts. That's also slotted 20th in D2.
Brooklyn Gobble, a former member of the Bison in 2024, as well as Avery Booker lead the pitching staff. Gobble's 19 starts are No. 20 in D2 while Booker's 2.38 ERA is sixth-best in the GAC.
Also, Gobble is No. 41 nationally with 104 strikeouts and her six shutouts are fourth nationally.
Offensively, Harding ranks third in the GAC with a .299 batting average.
Zoey Neal is the key player for HU's offense. Her .378 batting average leads the team, and her three sacrifice flies are No. 4 in the GAC. She also has six of the team's 15 homers.
