The Bisons baseball team scored 25 runs and allowed only nine hits in a sweep of Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU) on Feb. 12 and 13. The Bisons scored in the first inning of all three games and never looked back in 10-0, 5-0 and 10-1 victories.
Redshirt senior pitchers Andrew Fiddler and Hunter Payne each pitched complete-game shutouts on the opening day of the series, while senior pitcher Andrew Ralston and sophomore pitcher Reed Roberts combined to give up just two hits in the final game.
“We really pitched (the series) well — I think we had 30 strikeouts and only one walk,” head coach Patrick McGaha said. “They weren’t the caliber of opponent we had played the previous two weekends, but it was good to be able to put some runs up and see the guys swing the bat a little better.”
The team lost five of its first six games coming into the series, including being swept by Delta State University the previous weekend. The Bisons’ opening day opponent, St. Edward’s University, was ranked 11th nationally at the time of the game.
“(The players) understand we played two quality opponents who are going to be in the postseason and that’s really going to help us going forward,” McGaha said. “They’ve been through it — they know starting off the way we did isn’t the end of the world.”
Senior outfielder Zac Stewart, who had six hits in the series, said that even though the team has experienced some adversity, the OPSU series reminded the team that they have time to improve.
“We didn’t get off to the start we would’ve wanted to the first couple of weekends, so it was good to get some wins,” Stewart said. “We know it was part of the process and all we want to work on is the process.”
According to Stewart, “the process” is an idea that has been instilled in the team by McGaha as a reminder to take each game one step at a time.
“We play a 50-game schedule so we (have to) see the end goal and understand that it takes time to get there,” McGaha said.
The Bisons improved to 4-5 on the season with the sweep and will now look forward to their first Great American Conference series this weekend.
According to McGaha, capitalizing on opportunities is the key to getting an early conference series win.
“We’ve left some runs on the table at times, so when we have the chance to score and add to the lead we need to do that,” McGaha said. “If we can keep doing that with the starting pitching that we’ve been getting then we’re going to have a good chance to win the series for sure.”
The Bisons play Henderson State University in a three-game series Friday, Feb. 19, at 2 p.m. at Jerry Moore Field.
