With three weeks until the start of the baseball season in the Great American Conference, the league’s head coaches voted Oklahoma Baptist as the preseason favorite, the conference office announced on Thursday.
In their first year competing in Division II, the Bison made a spectacular debut, posting a 43-15 record, including a 22-11 mark within the GAC. They closed the year with a 15-game win streak that included 10 straight wins in NCCAA postseason play. The streak culminated in a game-winning grand slam by Hunter Heath that clinched a national title. The Bison bring back a pair of All-Conference pitchers – Jinny Parra and Carson McPherson. Parra also claimed the GAC Pitcher of the Year award after going 12-3 with a 2.49 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 108.1 innings. McPherson went 7-3 while holding opponents to a GAC-leading .176 batting average. Heath returns after hitting .356 with 11 home runs and 64 RBI.
Arkansas-Monticello, the reigning GAC Tournament champions, and Southwestern Oklahoma State, the GAC regular-season champion, shared second place. The Weevils won a program-record 40 games last season and advanced to the title game of the NCAA Central Region Tournament. They return Braden Chambers, a First-Team All-GAC pitcher, who went 11-1 along with First-Team second baseman Nick Piraino and reliever Dawson Moser, who registered nine saves and a 1.88 ERA. They must replace GAC Player of the Year and All-American Corey Wood, the GAC single-season record for home runs and RBI.
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