It is hard to believe, but the 2025 college baseball season is less than a month away for several of our squads here in the Sooner State.
Over the next several weeks leading up to the season we will be looking a some of our teams on the college level. Recently we sent out a questionnaire to the head coaches of each squad from the NCAA D2, NAIA, NCCAA, and NJCAA levels asking about their returning players and incoming players as well as their thoughts about their strengths and “opportunities” heading into the 2025 season.
Let’s take a look at a team with high expectations for the 2025 season at the NCAA D2 level: Northwest OK State Rangers.
2024 Recap
After being tabbed to finish near the bottom of the Great American Conference in the preseason, the Rangers had the best season in their NCAA D2 history in 2024. NWOSU started off with 7 wins in their first 8 games on their way to a program (NCAA D2 era) best 31 wins and a 6th place finish in the GAC qualifying for the conference post season tournament. The Rangers also had a propensity for late inning heroics as well.
While finishing 6th in the conference regular season standings, the Rangers were the 2nd best team in the conference at home with a 20-6 record (Arkansas Tech was 21-3).
NWOSU was 3rd in the GAC in team batting average (.300) and home runs (76) while finishing 2nd in slugging (.508).
On the mound, the Rangers were in the middle of the pack in most categories while finishing with a team ERA of 5.81.
Team Basics
- Official name: Northwest Oklahoma State University Rangers
- Level: NCAA D2
- Location: Alva, OK
- Conference: Great American Conference
- Head Coach: Ryan Bowen (8th season at NWOSU and 8th overall)
2024 Team Statistics
Batting
– Games: 51, .301/.383/.509, 77 HR, 339 RBI, 508 H, 96 2B, 12 3B, 202 BB, 392 SO
Pitching
– Games: 51, 31-20, 12 SV, SO, 416.2 IP, 1.66 WHIP, 485 H, 205 BB, 334 SO
Returning Players
Position Players
- Paul Sachen (OF); 2024: .276/.357/.476, 7 HR, 39 RBI (All GAC Honorable Mention)
- Dylan Bradford (1B); 2024: .380/.491/.545, 3 HR, 28 RBI (All GAC 1st Team, All Central Region 1st Team)
- Jacob Wiltshire (SS); 2024: .203/.287/.324, 4 HR, 14 RBI (GAC Gold Glove)
- Hagen Barcello (2B); 2024: .313/.350/.578, 12 HR, 51 RBI (All GAC 2nd Team)
- Trevor Saire (OF); 2024: .312/.350/.524, 9 HR, 33 RBI (GAC Gold Glove, All GAC Honorable Mention)
- Colby Grace (3B); 2024: .239/.324/.485, 12 HR, 33 RBI
- Carson Wright (OF); 2024: .389/.491/.676, 12 HR, 43 RBI (All GAC 1st Team, All Central Region 1st Team)
- Chad Green (DH); 2024: .385/.453/.654, 7 HR, 34 RBI (All GAC 2nd Team)
Pitchers
- Jacob Shaw; 2024: G 21, 5-2, 8 SV, 3.41 ERA, 29 IP, 26 H, 15 BB, 23 SO (All GAC 2nd Team)
- Dawson Torborg; 2024: G 20, 2-3, SV, 6.51 ERA, 37.1 IP, 44 H, 14 BB, 28 SO
- Will Kates; 2024, 2024: G 12, GS 3, 4-0, 4.40 ERA, 28.2 IP, 34 H, 12 BB, 16 SO
- Zach McEachern; 2024: G 13, GS 1, 1-2, SV, 4.41 ERA, 16.1 IP, 11 H, 8 BB, 13 SO
- Jacob Fuller; 2024: G 11, GS 9, 1-1, 6.69 ERA, 40.1 IP, 48 H, 22 BB, 37 SO
- Colby Mitchell; 2024: G 14, GS 11, CG, 4-2, 4.65 ERA , 50.1 IP, 57 H, 22 BB, 38 SO
- Myles McDermott; 2024: G 10, 1-0, 5.06 ERA, 10.2 IP, 13 H, 3 BB, 8 SO
Incoming Players
- Connor Green, 3B/1B, Junior (La Habra, CA): Previous School: Citrus CC
- Erik Tapia, RHP, Junior (Kansas City, KS): Previous School: Fort Scott CC
- Kaden Spray, LHP, Sophomore (Sharon, OK): Previous School: Butler CC
- Kaleb Melvin, RHP, Junior (Calumet, OK): Previous School: Murray State College
- Kyle Holzer, RHP, Junior (Denton, TX): Previous School: Murray State College
- Jordan Bedell, RHP, Junior (Frisco, TX): Previous School: Barton CC
- Elias Herrera, RHP, Junior (Panama City, Panama): Previous School: Seward CC
Outlook
The Rangers return a ton of production that was one of the top offenses in the GAC last year. Not only were the Rangers one of the top teams at the plate in 2024, they were the best in fielding percentage and double plays in the GAC. Along with their veteran leadership, that should give them confidence heading into 2025 that they can play with anyone.
Where NWOSU needs to improve is on the mound. While they had the top fielding team in the conference last year, the Ranges will need to improve on getting other teams to swing and miss at the plate to alleviate pressure on the base paths. It does seem that the Rangers have tried to address that with the amount of new pitchers they have coming in.
Looking forward to the 2025 season, it stands to reason that the Rangers are an emerging program in the GAC. They will need to improve on the road this year, but with the amount of veterans on this squad, it should happen.
There is no reason to thing that the Rangers can’t compete for a GAC championship and be one of the top teams in the Central Region. A trip to the NCAA D2 National Tournament is a real possibility for this program in 2025.
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