Wonder Boys square off with Savage Storm in road series

Baseball 04.19.24 By: Daniel Gallegos

Wonder Boys square off with Savage Storm in road series

SERIES INFORMATION

(RV) ARKANSAS TECH WONDER BOYS 28-13 (19-8 GAC)	SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA SAVAGE STORM 15-28 (5-22 GAC)
Sunday, April 21 \| 2 p.m. Mike Metheny Field \| Durant, Okla. LIVE STATS \| LIVE VIDEO Monday, April 22 \| 1 p.m. \| DH Mike Metheny Field \| Durant, Okla. LIVE STATS \| LIVE VIDEO

FIRST PITCH
The Arkansas Tech baseball team is on the road at Southeastern Oklahoma for their second-to-last weekend series of the season.

The series is slated to begin with a single nine-inning game on Sunday afternoon starting at 2 p.m. Monday will close the series with a doubleheader (9-7) starting at 1 p.m.

The Wonder Boys and Tigers have met 47 times historically in a series that dates back to 1995. In terms of the all-time series record, Southeastern holds a 24-23 lead over Tech.

The two teams met three times last season with the weekend series being played in Russellville. Tech would win the series after taking the last two games.

TECH(NICALLY) SPEAKING
The Wonder Boys enter their weekend series on the road at Southeastern Oklahoma with an overall record of 28-13 and a 19-8 mark in conference play. This past weekend, the Wonder Boys picked up a pivotal sweep at home against East Central. That sweep as put the Wonder Boys a game up and in first place in the conference standings.

Entering play against Southeastern Oklahoma, the Wonder Boys are hitting .294 as a team (382-for-1,300) with 281 runs scored, 87 doubles, seven triples and 36 home runs.

Keaton Ranallo currently leads the team in batting average at .365 (54-for-148). Ranallo has also been the top-power production bat in the lineup as he leads the team in slugging percentage at .622 thanks to 11 doubles and nine home runs. Ranallo is also the team-leader in RBIs with 44. Five other Wonder Boys have driven in at least 20 runs with two others having at least 30 driven in.

Behind Ranallo in home runs is Logan Schwenke with seven and Markos Cabranes with six. Christian Olea and Brendyn Bard have three while Grant Jones, Nick Jones and Cole Dawson have two while Brandon Bunton and Sawyer Duddleston account for the other homers thus far with one apiece.

In terms of other extra-base hits, Olea leads the team in doubles with 13 while the triples are led by Schwenke and his three.

On the mound, the Wonder Boys have a team ERA of 3.88 and have struck out 343 batters in 338.1 innings of work.

John Gray, Emilano Mata, and Jack Rector made starts this past weekend against East Central and figure to be in the mix to start against Southeastern Oklahoma. Gray currently has the lowest ERA among starters at 3.29. He is also 6-2 with 56 strikeouts in 63.0 innings of work. Mata is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 46.0 innings. Rector is 5-3 with a 4.01 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 42.2 innings.

Aside from those that have made starts, 12 other pitchers have taken the mound for the Wonder Boys in relief roles. Will Horton has the most relief appearances thus far with 19. He is 3-1 with two saves and has a 1.69 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 26.2 innings. Grant Shahan has logged the most innings amongst prominent relievers with 44.2 to his credit. Shahan is second on the team in strikeouts with 51.

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 414-298 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 558-395.

SCOUTING SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA
Southeastern Oklahoma enters their home series with Tech with a 15-28 overall record and a 5-22 mark in GAC play. The Savage Storm are on a three-game winning streak with all three of those wins coming in mid-week action earlier this week.

Offensively, the Savage Storm are hitting .284 as a team (400-for-1,406) with 311 runs scored, 70 doubles, nine triples and 60 home runs.

Cameron Cromer currently leads the team in batting average at .314 (27-for-86). Wesley Mitchell has provided the most power production thus far with a .556 slugging percentage thanks to 10 doubles and five home runs. Reid Rice has the most home runs on the team with nine. Fifteen other players have hit a home run for the Savage Storm with six others having hit at least four. Reid is tied for the team-lead in RBIs at 28 with Nick Hill. Twelve other hitters have at least 10 RBIs for the Savage Storm.

On the mound, the Savage Storm have an 8.30 team ERA and have struck out 264 batters in 340.2 innings of work.

This past weekend, the Savage Storm used a weekend rotation of Cameron Hauch, Dylan Turner and Jackson Sioson against Harding and figure to see to action in the same roles against Tech.

Hauch is 2-8 with a 6.49 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 59.2 innings of work. Turner is 1-2 with a 10.06 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 34.0 innings while Sioson is 3-4 with a 7.71 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 51.1 innings.

In addition to those starters, the Savage Storm have used 14 other pitchers in relief roles. Cody Langford has made the most relief appearances with 17. He is 0-0 with a 10.43 ERA and eight strikeouts in 14.2 innings.

The Savage Storm are led by Zach Crabtree, who is in his seventh season as head coach at Southeastern Oklahoma. In his time at SE, Crabtree is 147-150.

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