NCAA D2 Central Regional #1 Preview & Scoreboard

The conference tournaments are over and it is time to get into the national tournament. In the NCAA D2 level, the state of Oklahoma has one representative in the tournament. Central Oklahoma starts play in the Central Regional as the #5 seed on Thursday night.

The Bronchos come into the tournament as an at-large bid after bowing out of the MIAA Conference Tournament in the first round losing 2 of 3 games to Washburn. Fortunately for the Bronchos, they had built up their resume enough during the season to finish 36-14 and were comfortably in the top half of the Central Region rankings for most of the season.

In the D2 Championship, the NCAA has a truly regional format. There are 8 teams in the Central Region. The MIAA has 3 teams (Central Missouri, Missouri Southern, UCO) along with the GAC having 3 teams (Arkansas Monticello, Arkansas Tech, Harding). The other 2 teams, Augustana and Minnesota St, are from the NSIC.

These 8 teams are split into 2 – 4 team regionals and they are aptly named Central Regional #1 and Central Regional #2. In the Central Regional #1 are the #1, #4, #5, and #8 seeds: Central Missouri, Augustana, UCO, Minnesota St. In the Central Regional #2 are the #2, #3, #6, and #7 seeds: Missouri Southern, Arkansas Tech, Arkansas Monticello, and Harding.

Each regional is a double elimination format with the winner of each regional playing in a best of 3 Super Regional next weekend.

For this preview we will look at the Central Regional #1.

Team Capsules

UCO Bronchos

Conference: MIAA
Record: 36-14 (22-11, 4th)
Bid: At-Large

UCO started the season on a heater winning 11 games in a row including a 4 game sweep over eventual GAC Champions, Arkansas-Monticello. The Bronchos had 3 conference sweeps during the season and they were never swept themselves while never losing more than 2 games in a row.

Team Batting
AVG .281/OBP .386/SLG .484; 64 HR, 323 RBI, 363 R

Team Pitching (50 Games)
ERA 4.71, WHIP 1.40, 394 H, 254 R, 220 ER, 395 K, 197 BB

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Carson Carpenter: .324/.437/.688, 14 HR, 50 RBI
– Garrett Long: .311/.421/.605, 8 HR, 32 RBI
– Kaleb Glass: .355/.453/.461, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 23/25 SB
– Caden Robertson: .321/.396/.664, 9 HR, 41 RBI

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Caleb Burchfield (G/GS, 14/13) 6-2, 63.1 IP, 4.12 ERA, 48 K, 24 BB
– Brett Pense (G/GS, 13/12) 6-5, 63.2 IP, 4.24 ERA, 56 K, 26 BB
– Brady Gilmore (G/GS, 14/9) 3-1, 42 IP, 3.43 ERA, 47 K, 16 BB
– Valekd Cisneros (G/GS, 23/0) 1-1, 13 SV, 5.02 ERA , 44 K, 8BB

Central Missouri Mules

Conference: MIAA
Record: 47-8 (29-4, 1st)
Bid: At-Large

The Mules were the class of the MIAA winning the regular season by 5 games.. They had 6 conferences sweeps and did not lose a series in conference. The only games Central Missouri lost in conference were to the teams that finished 2nd – 5th in the league.

Central Mo finished at the 2nd ranked team in the final national rankings receiving a 1st place vote.

They are one of the best offensive teams in the country. The Mule have 6 hitters with double digit homeruns on the season and 9 players with at least 40 RBI

The Mules, however, may have shown a chink in the armor losing 2 games in the conference tournament and losing the finals to Missouri Southern giving up 18 runs (18-16).

Even with the Mules not winning the MIAA Tournament, they were a virtual lock to be the #1 seed in the Central Region seeing how they were ranked #1 in the Region all year.

Team Batting
AVG .357/OBP .456/SLG .649, 115 HR, 543 RBI, 594 R

Team Pitching
ERA 5.48, WHIP 1.42, H 451, R 308, ER 282, 424 K, 207 BB

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Brennen Van Breusegen: .384/.481/.800, 19 HR, 61 RBI
– Max Holy: .365/..477/.688, 14 HR, 68 RBI
– Carter Young: .364/.474/.695, 15 HR, 56 RBI
– Three other players have at least 10 HR, and 6 others have at least 40 RBI

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Conner Wolf: (G/GS, 15/14) 81.2 IP, 11-0, 3.86 ERA, 77 K, 14 BB
– Jack Kriesman: (G/GS, 17/12) 53.2 IP, 5-1, 4.19 ERA, 45 K, 21 BB
– Jake Wilson: (G/GS, 17/11) 52.2 IP, 5-0, 4.44 ERA, 44 K, 17 BB
– JD McReynolds: (G/GS, 18/0) 22.1 IP, 7-1, 4 SV, 2.82 ERA, 39 K 21 BB

Augustana Vikings

Conference: Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC)
Record: 45-8 (32-6, 1st)
Bid: Automatic

Much like Central Missouri with the MIAA, Augustana was the class of the NSIC. They won the regular season title by 3.5 games and went undefeated in the conference tournament.

The Vikings finished #9 in the final national poll and #3 in the final Central Region poll.

Team Batting
AVG .330/OBP .435/SLG .586, 96 HR, 457 RBI, 511 R

Team Pitching (53 games)
ERA 3.83, WHIP 1.21, H 341, R 200, ER 175, 541 K, 157 K

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Jack Hines: .444/.484/.872, 21 HR, 87 RBI
– Tate Meiners: .344/.453/.725, 13 HR, 41 RBI
– Drey Dirksen: .317/.465/.774, 20 HR, 51 RBI

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Ashton Michek (G/GS, 12/12) 67.1 IP, 8-2, 2.81 ERA, 83 K, 24 BB
– Caleb Saari (G/GS, 11/11) 66.2 IP, 8-1, 2.97 ERA, 78 K, 16 BB
– JD Hennen (G/GS, 12/9) 53 IP, 6-0, 3.74 ERA, 69 K, 17 BB

Minnesota State Mavericks

Conference: NSIC
Record: 37-18 (29-10, 2nd)
Bid: At-Large

It is a head scratcher to see the Mavericks in the field (albeit an 8 seed). They did not receive any votes and furthermore, they were ranked 10th in the Central Region with Pittsburg St ranked ahead of them (you can also make a case for Southern Arkansas).

The Mavericks finished 2nd in the NSIC regular season by half a game and 2nd in the conference tournament losing to Augustana in the finals.

Team Batting
AVG .322/OBP .441/SLG .530

Team Pitching (55 games)
ERA 5.42, WHIP 1.55, H 485, R 309, ER 269, 422 K, 206 BB

Team Leaders (Batting)
– Ryan Wickman: .353/.447/.667, 14 HR, 58 RBI, SB 23/24
– Louis Magers: .293/.452./619, 15 HR, 60 RBI
– Aidan Byrne: .396/.466/.586, 7 HR, 52 RBI, SB 21/22

Team Leaders (Pitching)
– Mitch Gutknecht (G/GS, 17/5) 59.0 IP, 4-3, 2 SV, 3.66 ERA. 67 K, 18 BB
– Spencer Wright (G/GS, 15/10) 61.1 IP, 5-3, 3.96 ERA, 55 K, 29 BB
– Louis Magers: (G/GS, 10/10) 41.2 IP, 3-2, 4.32 ERA, 31 K, 23 BB

Bracket

Scoreboard

Thursday

Game 1/2:00: Central Missouri 12 Minnesota St 10
Game 2/6:00: Augustana 4 UCO 3

Friday

Game 3/2:00: Minnesota St 0 UCO 2
Game 4/6:00: Central Missouri 18 Augustana 4

Saturday

Game 5/2:00: UCO 3 Augustana 4
Game 6/6:00: Central Missouri vs Augustana

Sunday

Game 7: If necessary

Central Regional #1 Champions:

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