Henderson set for GAC Tournament opener against Oklahoma Baptist
ENID, Okla. — The Henderson State baseball team will begin its trek toward a fourth consecutive appearance in the Great American Conference Tournament title game, and a possible automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Central Regional, tonight at 7 p.m. against No. 3 seed Oklahoma Baptist at David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Okla.
The Reddies (29-18, 21-12) enter the tournament as the league’s No. 4 seed. Henderson is the No. 10 ranked team in the Central Region, according to the latest regional rankings, which puts the Reddies two spots back of a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The top eight teams in the Central Region, following the conference tournaments, will advance to the NCAA Division II Central Regional on May 17-21.
Henderson is searching for its fourth straight trip to the GAC Tournament Championship final after reaching the title game in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The Reddies finished as the runners-up on all three occasions.
A win against Oklahoma Baptist would pit the Reddies against the win- ner of the No. 2 Southern Arkansas
(32-16, 22-11) and No. 5 Arkansas Tech
(27-21, 19-14) contest at 7:30 p.m. Sunday evening. A loss would send Henderson to face the winner of the No. 1 Arkansas-Monticello (30-17, 23-10) and No. 6 Southwestern Oklahoma State (23-22,
17-14) game at 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Senior Bryant Haralson ( 9-2, 3.55 ERA), the reigning GAC Pitcher of the Week and 2017 GAC Pitcher of the Year, is scheduled to be on the mound for the Reddies. Haralson is 19-5 in his Henderson career and has struck out 90 batters in 99 innings pitched this year.
Haralson’s last loss came on March 11 against Arkansas Tech. A win on Saturday night would make him just the fifth pitcher in program history to eclipse 20 victories in a career.
Freshman outfielder Caleb Carr leads the team with a .372 batting average, ranking sixth in the GAC, in the leadoff spot for the Reddies. He has 42 hits, a team-best .504 slugging percentage and is tied for the team lead with four triples.
Senior first baseman Zack Gray leads the team with nine home runs and 41 RBIs. Gray has also walked a team-high
41 times this year.
Senior second baseman Nolan Ryan has done a little bit of everything at the plate for Henderson. Ryan carries a .311 batting average with 42 hits, 26 RBIs and eight doubles.
Junior Taylor Langston has been the team’s ace reliever all season. Langston leads the team with a 1.48 ERA in 17 appearances and has eight saves this year.
As a team, the Reddies are batting
.276, which ranks in the bottom half of the GAC, but their team ERA of 4.70 and team fielding percentage of .967 are third-best in the league. Henderson has committed just 52 errors this season, the second-fewest of any team in the conference. The Reddies also lead the GAC in walks with 236 on the year.
Henderson dropped two games in the season series to Oklahoma Baptist. The Reddies are 4-5 against the Bison since they joined the league in 2016.
The last time the GAC Tournament was held at David Allen Ballpark was in 2015. That season, the Reddies used three wins in the conference tournament as a springboard into a NCAA Central Regional at-large bid and eventual College World Series berth.
Oklahoma Baptist played three less league games than Henderson after having a single game against Southeastern Oklahoma State (22-23, 17-15) and a doubleheader versus Southwestern canceled due to weather. They have won their last four games and eight of their last nine entering Saturday’s contest.
As a team, Oklahoma Baptist is hitting .321 and has an ERA of 4.69. The Bison are led offensively by Brett Berghammer, who leads the GAC in batting average at .400 and on-base percentage at .479. Zane Gelphman is the conference leader in home runs with 16 and slugging percentage at .708.
On the mound, the Bison boast Caleb Bly (6-1, 3.51). They held the Reddies to a team batting average of just .159 during the season series back in February.
Oklahoma Baptist head coach Bobby Cox has 1,340 career victories, which is more than the NCAA Division II record. Cox is not recognized as the Division II leader due to the percentage of wins which came when Oklahoma Baptist was an NAIA school.