The look of the Division II side of Region 2 will be different this upcoming season. No longer will you see every team in Oklahoma and Arkansas play each other during the regular season. Starting in 2024, Oklahoma teams will play Oklahoma teams only in Region play an Arkansas teams will play Arkansas teams in Region play.
According to a current Div II coach, another Arkansas school will be adding baseball this upcoming year and will be added to the Region. This will bring the Region to 11 teams with 6 in Oklahoma* and 5 in Arkansas.
This past season each team play each other 4 games in conference play. It was done in 1 of 2 formats: 1) 2 home and 2 away over a 3-4 day span or 2) 2 double headers in back to back days at the same school. Whether teams played 2 home/2 away or back to back double headers at the same school depended on the distance between the 2 teams.
For example: Redlands CC (in El Reno) was scheduled to play 2 home/2 away against every Oklahoma school plus UA Rich Mountain which is in Mena, AR just across the Oklahoma/Arkansas border (Redlands and WOSC played back to back DHs in Altus due to field conditions at Redlands after storms). South Arkansas Tech and National Park played back to back in El Reno while Redlands played back to back at South Arkansas due to distance.
With the new team being farther east in the state of Arkansas, the cost would be too much for schools to take. The solution is to divide the teams into “divisions” and change the postseason format.
New Scheduling
According to the same coach, scheduling will now be different for 2024. Each team in Oklahoma will play each other a total of 6 games – 3 in the first series and 3 in the second series. It will be the same format that Division I uses for their season. In the first series, the first game will be played on a Thursday or Friday at one school, with the next 2 being a double header at the other school 2 days later. After that team has played all 5 other Oklahoma schools, the schedule will “flip over” with the home teams being opposite than the first series.
Arkansas schools will use the same format.
New Postseason Format
With these changes comes changes to the postseason format.
The old format had the top 7 teams in 2023 move on to the Great Plains District Tournament with an 8th team from Region 6 participating in the double elimination tournament in Enid.
According to the same coach, the new postseason format will take the top 4 in the regular season standings from Oklahoma and the top 4 from Arkansas. The 1st place team from Oklahoma will play the 4th place team from Arkansas while the 2nd place teams from each state play the 3rd place teams from the other state. They will play in a best of 3 series at the higher seeded team’s home over a weekend.
The 4 teams that win these series will then move to a double elimination tournament played at David Allen Ballpark in Enid the following weekend. The team that wins that tournament will then move on to a district tournament with 2 other teams (like the Region 2, Div I champion does).
Expect More Changes Next Year
The same coach also told me that while there will still be 2 divisions beyond this coming season, there will be more teams and it most likely won’t be just Oklahoma teams vs Oklahoma and the same for Arkansas. Apparently 2 more Arkansas schools are adding baseball and will be added to Region 2, Div II. These school are more in central and eastern Arkansas. That means it looks like UA Rich Mountain in Mena, AR and National Park College in Hot Springs, AR would be added along with the 6 Oklahoma schools to make an 8 team division. However, that is still far away and things could change.
*The Oklahoma schools in Region 2, Div II are: Murray State College (Tishimingo), Western Oklahoma State College (Altus), Carl Albert State College (Poteau), Redlands CC (El Reno), Northern Oklahoma College – Tonkawa, and Northern Oklahoma College – Enid
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