When Sooner State Baseball Report started last year, we tried to find different and fun content about baseball in the Sooner State that we thought people would enjoy. One of the ways we did that was to start ranking the 30 different college teams in the state. And that’s how the Power 10 was “born.”
Each week until the postseason, we will rank what we think are the 10 best teams in the state relative to their level. We will look at the results of each team based on the level of their competition compared to the other teams in the state.
Does that mean if a junior college team is ranked ahead of an NCAA D1 team we think that JUCO would be the D1? No it doesn’t. But it does mean we think that the JUCO team is playing better than the D1 at their respective levels.
The initial rankings last week didn’t include NCAA D1 teams since they hadn’t played yet, but OU, OSU, and ORU are eligible this week after opening their seasons this past weekend.
Here is where we think things stand right now.
Please remember this is for fun and should be treated as such.
Teams Dropped From Power 10
- NOC Tonkawa (PR 8): Went 2-3 last week
- Southeast OK State (PR 7): Went 0-4 last week
- Oklahoma City University (PR 3): Went 0-4 last week
Teams Just Missing Power 10
NOC Tonkawa (9-4); Northeastern State (8-4); Southeast OK State (6-5); Western OK State College (6-3)
10. NOC Enid (8-3) NJCAA D2
Last week: 9
The Jets had an odd week last week. Their 4 game series vs East Central College got postponed a couple times and lost a game to make it a 3 game series. Enid did hand the Falcons their first loss of the season in game 1, but the Jets lost the final 2 games of the series by 2 runs each game. Bost games saw the Jets lead the Falcons midway through the game.
This week: Tues vs Butler CC; Fri-Sat vs Des Moines Area CC (4 games)
9. Southwest OK State Bulldogs (9-4), NCAA D2
Last week: 6
The Bulldogs went 2-2 last week winning their midweek game vs Newman in run rule fashion then going 1-2 in their opening GAC series vs Henderson St.
SWOSU was 13 uncharacteristic in games 1 & 2 vs HSU in that they gave up 9 and 13 runs which they had given up 9 runs only once before in the early season.
This week: Fri-Sat at Ouachita Baptist (3 games)
8. USAO Drovers (7-4), NAIA
Last week: NR
The Drovers make their first entrance into the Power 10 for 2024. From this week’s “Five Things You Should Know”:
USAO had started the season 5-1 before losing their two games at the Cajun Collision. So coming into this past weekend’s series vs #7 Bellevue, it was imperative the Drovers win the series.
It didn’t get off to a good start as the Drovers lost game 1 on Saturday.
The Drovers had an opportunity on Sunday with a double header still to play.
After putting up a 4 spot in the 2nd inning of game 1, USAO never trailed again winning 7-5.
Game 2 was a barn burner to say the least. The Drovers took a 6-4 lead after 4 before Bellevue scored 4 in the 5th to go up 8-6. In the 6th inning is when the doors blew off for the Drovers when they scored 9 runs to go on to win 15-10.
This week: Fri-Sat at Kansas Christian College (4 games in Kansas City)
7. Rogers State Hillcats (6-3), NCAA D2
Last week: NR
Rogers State is making their debut in the Power 10 for 2024 as well. The Hillcats did make a few appearances in the Power 10 in early 2023, but wasn’t seen after the midway point last season.
From this week’s “Five Things You Should Know”:
Rogers State started the season by going 0-2 at the Dugan Invitational in Hot Springs, AR. They’ve been on a heater ever since.
This past weekend the Hillcats swept their 3 game series vs McKendree. RSU has now won 6 of their last 7 games to move their record to 6-3 on the season.
This week: Tues at SNU; Fri-Sun at Newman (3 games)
6. MACU Evangels (8-4), NAIA
Last week: 10
MACU made the Power 10 last week at number 10 even though they were sitting at 4-4. At the time they had the best 2 wins of the season with wins over top 10 nationally ranked teams LSU Shreveport and Missouri Baptist. In fact, MACU is still the only team to beat LSU Shreveport in their first 12 games of the season.
The Evangels have a quirk in their schedule this week as they just got back to OKC after their series at Southwestern was delayed to finish on Monday. They host Friends University on Tuesday afternoon who comes in at 10-3.
This week: Tuesday vs Friends Univ
5. Connors State College Cowboys (14-0), NJCAA D1
Last week: 5
The Cowboys went 6-0 again last week with 4 of the victories against 4 year school JV teams or post grad teams. They did score a combined 30 runs in a double header vs NJCAA D1 North Central Texas College.
It is hard to get a good gauge on the Cowboys since the majority of their wins are against non NJCAA teams. This week that will change as they have 3 games against NJCAA teams.
This week: Monday vs OK Christian JV; Thurs: at Carl Albert State College; Sat: at UA Rich Mountain (DH)
4. Oklahoma Sooners (2-1), NCAA D1
Last week: NR
The NCAA D1 season kicked off this past weekend and OU had one of the toughest schedules to start: playing 3 quality teams at a neutral park.
From this week’s “Five Things You Should Know”:
OU has had some good recruiting classes in recent years and couple that with an impressive incoming transfer class, the expectations coming into 2024 were high.
The Sooners started the season with three games in Globe Life Park in Arlington, TX against Oregon, Tennessee, and Nebraska. Oregon lost in the Super Regionals against Oral Roberts in 2023, Tennessee was a College World Series qualifier, and Nebraska won 33 games in 2023. Not exactly the easiest 3 games to start the season.
After OU lost a close 4-2 game to the Ducks, the Sooners saw the Volunteers the next night. OU battled Rocky Top pitch for pitch until they blew it open in the 10th inning for a 5-1 victory over the preseason #9 team.
OU had to turn around and play a pesky Cornhusker team less than 12 hours later. Nebraska had a 6-3 lead after 6 innings. OU scored 2 in the 7th inning, then they scored 2 in the 9th and won the game on a walk off hit by Ft Cobb-Broxton’s Jaxon Willits (his first college hit).
This week: Tues: at Dallas Baptist, Fri-Sun vs Wright State (4 games)
3. Northwest OK State Rangers (9-2), NCAA D2
Last week: 4
The Rangers have been one of, if not the most exciting team in the Sooner State after the first 2 weeks. Three of their 6 wins were of the comeback, walk off variety.
NWOSU had a big opportunity this week as they hosted Ouachita Baptist in the opening series of the GAC slate. The Tigers were picked to finish 3rd in the GAC so the Rangers had a chance to show the rest of the conference that they are going to be a team to be reckoned with in 2023.
After splitting the first 2 games of the series, the Rangers’ bullpen was phenomenal in game 3 as 4 pitchers (Shafer Glasscock, Will Kates, Jacob Fuller, and Zac McEachern) combined for 7.2 innings of no runs and NWOSU won 6-2.
This week: Tues vs Emporia State; Fri-Sat at Henderson St (3 games)
2. Oklahoma Baptist University Bison (9-2), NCAA D2
Last week: 2
The Bison started the week on a down note losing in a run rule at #23 Missouri Southern on Tuesday.
However, OBU had a huge opportunity with their opening GAC series vs Arkansas Tech.
From “Five Things You Should Know”:
OBU had a big week scheduled last week. They had a midweek game at #23 Missouri Southern where they got boat raced 21-6.
However, the bigger part of their schedule was over the weekend as the hosted Arkansas Tech. It was the first true home game(s) for the Bison after a tornado damaged their ballpark and the Wonder Boys were picked #2 in the GAC preseason poll.
The Bison (who were picked 4th in the preseason poll) looked to make a statement to the rest of the GAC teams and that they did. Not only did they win the series, they swept the Wonder Boys, 3-0.
1. UCO Bronchos (11-0), NCAA D1
Last week: 1
From this week’s “Five Things You Should Know”
UCO came into the week at the #1 team in the initial SSBR College Power 10 with a record of 8-0. They had a midweek game vs ECU and a 2 game set vs Oklahoma Christian. The Tigers and Eagles had a combined win total of 3 games between them.
The #20 Bronchos did what they needed to do. They went 3-0 and scored a combined 38 runs in the 3 games.
UCO has been impressive on the mound this season. They have a team ERA of just 2.43 and have 95 Ks in 89 innings pitched.
Things pick up for the Bronchos in a big way this week. The host Southeast OK State in a midweek game before traveling to nationally ranked #4 Central Missouri to open MIAA play.
This week: Tues vs SEOSU; Fri-Sun at #4 Central Missouri (Fri-Sun)
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