5. OUACHITA BAPTIST TIGERS
First year OBU coach Chris Moddelmog (which would be a perfect name for a Harry Potter character) inherited a team that recorded the most wins in school history and had an amazing postseason to finish as the NCAA Division II Championship runner ups. No magic will be needed this season as a trio of seniors Blake Lockwood (.320, 1, 35, 48 SBs), Rudy Jovanovski (.329, 11, 61) and Drew Maus (.310, 7, 57) will lead the Tigers offensive onslaught which slugged .506 as a team and stole nearly 100 bases more than opposition last year. The pitching staff will be without mega ace Steve Smith who won the “Natural” Award, given to the best player from the state of Arkansas, but most of the staff does return including the tandem of Chase Baran (10-3, 3.96) and Jarod Hershberger (8-2, 3.99) and reliever Patrick Lemmond (2-1, 3.00, 9 SVs).
8. SOUTHERN ARKANSAS MULERIDERS
The Muleriders reached the 40-win plateau for the third consecutive year and were ranked number one mid-season, but were eliminated by Delta State in the South Central Region semi-finals. Fourth year coach Allen Gum and his Muleriders are one of the reasons the Gulf South Conference is the predominant conference in the country with players like Cannon Lester (.400, 5, 41), James Schroeder (.369, 9, 55, 22 SBs) and Brandon Graves (.365, 9, 48). SAU loses big bopper John Long, but does get back sure handed Dane Lucas who was an All-GSC player in 2007. Hayden Simpson (10-0, 3.43) was an All GSC pitcher as a freshman who would have won even if the Muleriders weren’t more the doubling the scores of opposition. Thomas Tillery (0-0, 1.59) didn’t log a large amount of innings, but impressed when he was on the hill with an ERA so low, low, low even Flo Rida would be impressed.
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