FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team is set to begin its GAC Tournament run this weekend at home at Baswell Field as the No. 2-seed and will take on No. 7-seed Ouachita Baptist in a best-of-three opening round series.
The action is slated to begin on Friday with the first two games being played as a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Should a decisive third game of the series be needed, it will start at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The Wonder Boys and Tigers have met 174 times historically in a series that dates back to 1912. In terms of the all-time series record, Tech holds a 101-72-1 lead over Ouachita Baptist.
The two teams met three times earlier this season with a three-game conference series at Tech. The Wonder Boys won the series 2-1 with wins in each of the first two games.
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 this opening round series against No. 7-seed Ouachita Baptist.
Entering play against Ouachita, the Wonder Boys are hitting .299 as a team (460-for-1,539) with 344 runs scored, 96 doubles, 10 triples and 43 home runs.
Keaton Ranallo currently leads the team in batting average at .394 (69-for-175). Ranallo has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .703 thanks to 13 doubles, a triple and 13 home runs. Ranallo is also the team-leader in RBIs with 57. Seven other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 20 runs with four others having at least 30 driven in.
Behind Ranallo in home runs is Logan Schwenke with nine and Markos Cabranes with seven. Christian Olea and Brendyn Bard have three while Grant Jones, 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 and Ranallo lead the team in doubles with 13 while the triples are led by Schwenke and his three.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 4.28 and have struck out 391 batters in 395.1 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against Harding and figure to be in the mix to start against Ouachita. Gray currently has the lowest ERA among starters at 4.50. He is also 6-2 with 62 strikeouts in 72.0 innings of work. Mata is 2-2 with a 5.11 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 56.1 innings. Rector is 5-4 with a 4.91 ERA and 53 strikeouts in 47.2 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 22. He is 4-1 with two saves and has a 1.51 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 35.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings amongst prominent relievers with 52.2 to his credit. Shahan is second on the team in strikeouts with 57.
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 563-397.
SCOUTING OUACHITA BAPTIST
Ouachita Baptist ended their regular season with an overall record of 27-21 and went 19-14 in conference play. Their conference record landed the Tigers as the No. 7-seed in the conference tournament.
Offensively, the Tigers are hitting .293 as a team (465-for-1,586) with 312 runs scored, 99 doubles, 10 triples and 80 home runs.
Michael Quinones currently leads the team in batting average at .361 (57-for-158). Quinones has also provided the most power production thus far with a .703 slugging percentage thanks to 13 doubles, one triple and 13 home runs. Quinones' 13 home runs are tied for the team-lead with Dustin Bermudez. Two other Tigers have hit double-digit home runs as well. Quinones also leads the team in RBIs at 41. Four other hitters have at least 30 RBIs for the Tigers.
On the mound, the Tigers have a 4.53 team ERA and have struck out 375 batters in 393.0 innings of work.
This past weekend, the Tigers used a weekend rotation of Chase Oberle, Cooper Timmons and Luke House against Henderson State and figure to see to action in the same roles against Tech.
Oberle is 6-4 with a 2.23 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 76.2 innings of work. Timmons is 4-4 with a 4.46 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 72.2 innings while House is 6-4 with a 5.14 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 68.1 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 23. He is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 38.2 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 145-126.
