FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team remains at home this weekend and will play a three-game conference series against Ouachita Baptist.
The series is slated to begin with a single nine-inning game on Saturday night starting at 6 p.m. Sunday will close the series with a doubleheader (9-7) starting at 1 p.m.
The Wonder Boys and Tigers have met 171 times historically in a series that dates back to 1912. In terms of the all-time series record, Tech holds a 99-71-1 lead over Ouachita Baptist.
The two teams met three times last season with a three-game conference series at Ouachita. The Tigers won the series 2-1 after losing the first game to Tech, 7-6.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter this weekend series at home against Ouachita Baptist with an overall record of 12-9 and a 5-4 mark in the GAC. This past weekend, the Wonder Boys won their series on the road at Henderson State, winning the opener, 9-0, and the finale, 5-1. Most-recently, the Wonder Boys swept a mid-week doubleheader at home against former conference rival, Delta State.
Entering play against Ouachita Baptist, the Wonder Boys are hitting .261 as a team (172-for-658) with 136 runs scored, 34 doubles, four triples and 18 home runs.
Logan Schwenke currently leads the team in batting average at .349 (22-for-63). Schwenke has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .762 thanks to six doubles, one triple and six home runs. His home run total leads the team, and he is also the team-leader in RBIs with 21. Four other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 10 runs.
Keaton Ranallo is second on the team in home runs at four while Markos Cabranes, Christian Olea and Brendyn Bard have two. Cole Dawson and Nick Jones account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.
In terms of other extra-base hits, Shane Poe is tied for the team-lead in doubles with Schwenke at six while the triples have come from four different players in Sawyer Duddleston, Grant Jones, Bard and Schwenke.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.82 and have struck out 183 batters in 175.2 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against Henderson State and figure to be in the mix to start against Ouachita Baptist. Rector currently has the lowest ERA among starters at 4.12. He also is 1-2 with 16 strikeouts in 19.2 innings of work. All three weekend starters have registered double-digit strikeouts thus far with Gray leading the group with 27 Ks.
Aside from those that have made starts, 12 other pitchers have taken the mound for the Wonder Boys in relief roles. Will Horton has the most relief appearances thus far with 10. He is 3-1 with two saves and has a 1.84 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings in relief with 23.0 to his credit. Shahan also currently leads the team in strikeouts with 28.
Leading the Wonder Boys once more is Dave Dawson. The all-time winningest coach in Tech Baseball history, Dawson enters his 15th year in the dugout for the Wonder Boys. In his previous 14 seasons, Dawson has guided amassed a 414-298 record. He has also had seven seasons with 30 or more wins which includes the 2014 season in which he led the team a program-record 44 wins and hosting rights for that year's Central Region Tournament.
Overall, Dawson is in his 19th year as a head baseball coach at the collegiate level as he spent four years as head coach at Kansas Wesleyan and totaled 118 wins. His combined win total at Tech and Kansas Wesleyan have him with a career record of 540-390.
SCOUTING OUACHITA BAPTIST
Ouachita Baptist enters this weekend series at Tech with a 9-8 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the GAC. This past weekend, the Tigers won their conference series at home against Arkansas-Monticello, winning the final two games after dropping the opener in 13 innings. Most-recently, Ouachita Baptist won their mid-week game at home against cross-town rival Henderson State, 5-1.
Offensively, the Tigers are hitting .259 as a team (138-for-532) with 79 runs scored, 34 doubles, two triples and 14 home runs.
Wesley Scott leads the team in batting average early on at .340 (18-for-53). Scott has also provided the most power production thus far with a .604 slugging percentage thanks to three doubles, a triple and three home runs. Scott's three home runs leads the team while his 14 RBIs also pace the club. He is tied for the team-lead in runs scored with 12.
On the mound, the Tigers have a 4.15 team ERA and have struck out 126 batters in 143.0 innings of work.
Last weekend, the Tigers used a weekend rotation of Cooper Timmons, Chase Oberle and Luke House against Arkansas-Monticello and figure to see to action in the same roles against Tech. Oberle has the lowest ERA among the starters at 2.45 and is tied for the most wins with House with two. All three weekend starters have registered at least 20 strikeouts and have logged at least 25.0 innings.
In addition to those starters, the Tigers have used 10 other pitchers in relief roles. Cameron Marchant has made the most relief appearances with nine. He is 1-0 with a save and has a 2.70 ERA with six strikeouts in 13.1 innings. The other two saves have come from Dustin Bermudez. He is also 1-0 with 0.00 ERA and has 14 strikeouts in 8.2 innings
The Tigers are led by Luke Howard, who is in his sixth season as head coach at Ouachita Baptist. In his time at Ouachita, Howard is 127-113.
