Wonder Boys open GAC slate on the road at Oklahoma Baptist

FIRST PITCH
After a single home game this past Tuesday, the Arkansas Tech baseball team is back on the road this weekend and are heading to Shawnee, Oklahoma to take on Oklahoma Baptist in the first Great American Conference series of the season.
The series is slated to begin with a single nine-inning game on Saturday starting at 3 p.m. Sunday will close the series with a doubleheader (9-7) starting at Noon.
The Wonder Boys and Bison have met 29 times historically with all games coming as GAC foes. In terms of the all-time series record, Oklahoma Baptist holds a 17-12 lead over Tech.
The two teams met six times last regular season with a three-game conference series at Tech and an opening round series at Tech in the GAC Tournament. Tech swept the weekend series, but Oklahoma Baptist bounced back to win two-of-three games in the post-season series.
TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter this weekend's series at Oklahoma Baptist with an overall record of 3-5. They are coming off a 10-6 win against Pittsburg State in a mid-week game this past Tuesday. That game as the home-opener for the Wonder Boys.
Entering play against the Bison, the Wonder Boys are hitting .227 as a team (55-for-242) with 41 runs scored, nine doubles, a triple and eight home runs.
Logan Schwenke currently leads the team in batting average at .364 (8-for-22). Schwenke also leads the team in RBIs with nine and is tied for the team-lead in home runs with Keaton Ranallo at three. Brendyn Bard and Cole Dawson have account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.
In terms of other extra-base hits, Shane Poe leads the team in doubles with three while Sawyer Duddleston has the team's lone triple thus far.
On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 6.92 and have struck out 63 batters in 65.0 innings of work.
John Gray, Emilano Mata, Jack Rector and Mason Willis have made starts on the mound. All but Willis have made multiple starts and will likely start games over the weekend at Oklahoma Baptist.

Aside from those four who have made starts, 13 other pitchers have taken the mound for the Wonder Boys in relief roles. Will Horton has the most relief appearances thus far with four. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings in relief with 7.2 to his credit. Shahan also currently leads the team in strikeouts with 11.
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 413-295 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 531-386.
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST
Oklahoma Baptist enters this weekend series at home against Tech with a 6-2 overall record. The Bison are coming off a 21-6 loss on the road at Missouri Southern on Tuesday in their mid-week game of the week. Prior to that, the Bison had swept a four-game weekend series against New Mexico Highlands.
Offensively, the Bison are hitting .316 as a team (78-for-247) with 76 runs scored, 21 doubles, no triples and 14 home runs.
Isiah Lissade leads the team in batting average early on at .433 (13-for-30). Alex Schroeder has provided the most power production thus far with a .963 slugging percentage thanks to four doubles and four homers. Schroeder also is tied for the team-lead in runs scored with 11 and paces the club with 17 RBIs.
On the mound, the Bison have a 6.79 team ERA and have struck out 67 batters in 61.0 innings of work.
The Bison have had four pitchers start games with all four starting twice. The four who have started for the Bison have been Nolan Feazle, Brek Galbreath, Logan Kimbro and Cameron Pool. All but Kimbro have pitched at least 10.0 innings, but Kimbro is not far off at 9.0. Kimbro has also made one relief appearance and earned a save in that outing.
Galbreath and Pool are currently 2-0 in their win-loss record. Pool is currently leading the team in strikeouts with 12. Galbreath also has the lowest ERA among starters at 3.60.
In addition to the four that have started games, the Bison have used six other pitchers in strictly relief roles. Five of those have made two appearances.
The Bison are led by Chris Cox, who is in his fifth season as head coach at Oklahoma Baptist. In his time, Cox is 107-68. Prior to taking over at Oklahoma Baptist, Cox spent six seasons there as an assistant coach under his father, Bobby Cox. Cox also has assistant coaching experience at Vernon College and Northern Oklahoma College.