FIRST PITCH
The No. 2-seed Arkansas Tech baseball team have put themselves through to the next round of the 2024 Great American Conference Baseball Championship Tournament after winning their best-of-three series at home against Ouachita Baptist earlier this week.
In doing so, the Wonder Boys are among the final four teams remaining in the tournament and will continue their run against No. 3-seed Harding on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
First-pitch is slated for 5 p.m.
The Wonder Boys and Bisons have met 157 times historically in a series that dates back to 1965. In terms of the all-time series record, Arkansas Tech holds a 95-62 lead over Harding.
The two teams met four times earlier this season with a mid-week non-conference game at Tech back in late February and a three-game conference series at Harding two weekends ago. The Wonder Boys won the mid-week game, 11-10 in 11 innings but lost the series 2-1. Tech's win in the series, however, secured a share of the regular season conference championship for the Wonder Boys.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys ended their regular season with an overall record of 33-15 and went 23-10 in conference play. Their conference record gave the Wonder Boys a share of the 2024 GAC Regular Season Championship with UAM and Harding. After all the tiebreakers among those three were decided, the Wonder Boys became the No. 2-seed in the conference tournament, allowing them to host the opening round series against No. 7-seed Ouachita Baptist.
Tech would win the series over Ouachita by taking the last two games after dropping the opener 9-6 in 11 innings.
Entering play against Harding, the Wonder Boys have a record of 35-16 and are hitting .299 as a team (493-for-1,649) with 364 runs scored, 99 doubles, 10 triples and 45 home runs.
Keaton Ranallo currently leads the team in batting average at .396 (74-for-187). Ranallo has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .684 thanks to 13 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs. Ranallo is also the team-leader in RBIs with 58. Eight other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 20 runs with five others having at least 30 driven in.
Behind Ranallo in home runs is Logan Schwenke with nine and Markos Cabranes with eight. Christian Olea, Brendyn Bard and Grant Jones have three while Nick Jones and Cole Dawson have two. Brandon Bunton and Sawyer Duddleston account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.
In terms of other extra-base hits, Olea leads the team in doubles with 14 while the triples are led by Schwenke and his three.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.33 and have struck out 424 batters in 424.1 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against Ouachita and would each figure to be in the mix to start against Harding. Gray currently has the lowest ERA among starters at 4.79. He is also 6-2 with 66 strikeouts in 77.0 innings of work. Mata is 2-2 with a 5.23 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 62.0 innings. Rector is 5-4 with a 5.07 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 49.2 innings.
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 25. He is 5-2 with two saves and has a 1.94 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 41.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings amongst prominent relievers with 58.2 to his credit. He is 6-1 with three saves and a 2.45 ERA and also is second on the team in strikeouts with 63.
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 565-398.
SCOUTING HARDING
Harding ended their regular season with an overall record of 33-16 and went 23-10 in conference play. Their conference record gave Harding a share of the 2024 GAC Regular Season Championship with UAM and Tech. After all the tiebreakers among those three were decided, the Bisons became the No. 3-seed in the conference tournament, allowing them to host the opening round series against No. 6-seed Northwestern Oklahoma.
Harding would win the series over NWOSU without the need of the "if necessary" game, winning game one 10-7 and then game two, 2-1.
Entering play against Tech, Harding is 35-15 overall and are hitting .285 as a team (453-for-1,589) with 329 runs scored, 85 doubles, eight triples and 44 home runs.
Collin Helms currently leads the team in batting average at .344 (44-for-128). Helms has also provided the most power production thus far with a .463 slugging percentage thanks to eight doubles, two triples and nine home runs. Helms' nine home runs lead the team. Four other Bisons have hit at least five home runs as well. Sebastian Martinez leads the team in RBIs at 45. Seven other hitters have at least 25 RBIs for the Bisons.
On the mound, the Bisons have a 4.45 team ERA and have struck out 419 batters in 412.2 innings of work.
This past weekend, the Bisons only needed to start Maddox Long and Davis Welch against Northwestern Oklahoma and figure to be one of the top choices see to action in the same roles against Tech.
Long is 5-1 with a 3.36 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 91.0 innings of work. Welch is 6-4 with a 3.45 ERA with 85 strikeouts in 86.0 innings.
In addition to those starters, the Bisons have used 11 other pitchers in relief roles. Griffin Meeker has made the most relief appearances with 24. He is 6-1 with two saves and a 5.45 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 39.2 innings.
The Bisons are led by Dr. Patrick McGaha, who is in his 19th season as head coach at Harding and his 23rd overall. In his time at Harding, McGaha is 540-408 and is 659-504-1 overall.
