One of, if not the premiere in season events is happening this weekend. The annual Cajun Collision presented by NAIA Ball and hosted by LSU-Shreveport will be played Thursday, February 8 through Sunday, February 11 in Sterlington, LA. Due to potential weather, the event is now a 2 day event on Thursday and Friday.
Twenty teams from the Southeast part of the country will converge on Sterlington with each playing 4 games. Some of the best teams in the country will play.
Two Oklahoma squads will be playing in the event: USAO and MACU. Let’s take a look at tour Sooner State teams and who’ll they’ll be playing.
USAO Drovers, 5-1
The Drovers have been impressive to start the season. They’ve won both series to start the season including a sweep this past weekend of (RV) McPherson.
They’ve outscored their opponents 56-23. Christopher Martinez and Peyton McDowall are leading the offense with OPS’s of 1.693 and 1.075 respectively.
Brian Ereu has won both of his starts. He has an ERA of 1.74 in 10.1 IP and 12 Ks.
(RV) Bryan College, 5-1 (Friday, 9:30 am)
The Lions from Dayton, TN went 36-20 in 2023 and won their conference (Appalachian Athletic Conference) tournament qualifying for the NAIA National Tournament. They went 1-2 in the Opening Round and were eliminated.
Bryan is still highly thought of in 2024 as they received votes in the NAIA Baseball Coaches preseason poll (just 2 spots behind USAO). They’ve scored 52 runs in their 6 games so far this season
#5/#4 LSU-Shreveport, 4-1 (Friday, 3:30 pm)
LSUS is a team that fans in the Sooner State should be familiar with. The Pilots are 4-1 on the season, but the “1” in the loss column is from an 11-1 loss to MACU.
The Pilots are the host school for the Cajun Collision and they are thought highly for the 2024 season. The NAIA Baseball Coaches preseason poll has them at #5 and the latest NAIA Ball rankings has them at #4.
LSU-Shreveport went 47-10 in 2023 and lost in the championship game of the Opening Round and missed out making the World Series by only 1 run.
MACU Evangels, 2-4
The Evangels come into the Collision off of a disappointing weekend where they dropped 3 straight games vs Houston-Victoria and lost the series 3-1. MACU did split a double header vs the Collision host, LSU-Shreveport (the #5 ranked team in the country) 11-1 and 5-6.
At the plate for MACU, Noel McGarry-Doyle and Carlos Medina are leading the way with respective OPS of 1.222 and .988. Kyle Williams leads the team in RBI with 6.
Zane Robeaux (0.00) and Isaac Baez (2.89) lead the pitching staff in ERA.
Georgetown College, 3-0 (Friday, 9:30 am)
The Tigers from Georgetown, KY are coming off a 2023 season where they went 27-22. They won a series to qualify for the Mid-South Conference Tournament where they were eliminated after going 1-2.
They are off to a 3-0 start in 2024 after sweeping Shawnee St last weekend (10-5, 1-0, 6-5). Trevor Baker was named Conference Pitcher of the Week for his 8 shutout innings with 10 Ks against 1 BB in the game 2, 1-0 win.
#8 Missouri Baptist, 3-1 (Friday, 12:30 pm)
The Spartans come into the Collision looking like the best team any of the 3 Oklahoma squads will play. They were preseason #10 in both the NAIA Baseball Coaches rankings and the NAIA Ball rankings. In the NAIA Ball rankings out this week, Missouri Baptist moved up to #8.
Those rankings are well deserved. The Spartans finished 2023 with a record of 44-9 and made the NAIA National Tournament. They lost in the championship game of the Opening Round.
MBU has only played 4 games this season which were this past weekend. The took 2 games against Campbellsville (12-7, 3-2) and split with #4 William Carey (5-3, 3-12).
Sooner State Baseball Report 
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