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 NAIA level: Southwestern Christian Eagles.
2024 Recap
The 2024 season was a glass half empty and a glass half full type of season for SCU. The glass half empty was the Eagles were a middle of the pack team in the Sooner Athletic Conference and did not qualify for the NAIA National Tournament. The glass half full was the fact the Eagles were good enough to qualify for the NCCAA (National Christian Colleges Athletic Association) National Tournament for the 8th consecutive season and they won the 2024 NCCAA National Championship.
The Eagles had their moments at the plate in SAC play, but they were inconsistent at times while finishing in 5th in team batting average (.284). They did get on base frequently as the 2nd best team in conference at .404. However, SCU had a hard time slugging as they finished in 7th at .383 and last with only 22 HRs on the season.
SCU had the same issues of inconsistency on the mound as they finished 5th in team ERA at 5.75. While they were 3rd in strike outs in the SAC, they offset that by being the 3rd worst in walks and the 4th worst in hits allowed.
Team Basics
- Official name: Southwestern Christian University Eagles
- Level: NAIA/NCCAA
- Location: Bethany, OK
- Conference: Sooner Athletic Conference
- Head Coach: Joe Blackwell (11th year as HC at SCU and 11th year overall)
2024 Team Statistics
Batting
– Games: 57, .284/.404/.383, 22 HR, 289 RBI, 461 H, 87 2B, 4 3B, 283 BB, 246 SO
Pitching
– Games: 57, 33-24, 4 SV, 411.1 IP, 1.58 WHIP, 432 H, 216 BB, 383 SO
Returners
Position Players
- Matys Gagnon (C), 2024: G 53, .288/.495/.432, 3 HR, 31 RBI
- Draike Sparks (OF), 2024: G 18, .286/.342/.400, 2 HR, 7 RBI
- Joseph Boone (1B), 2024: G 46, .320/.401/.354, HR, 31 RBI
- Jhors Gomez (INF), 2024: G 45, .404/.505/.628, 4 HR, 33 RBI, 23 2B (2023 NAIA All American 1st Team)
- Joey Thornton (INF), 2024: G 12, .244/.340/..463, 8 RBI, 2 2B, 3B
- Dario Paredes (1B/3B), 2024: G 57, .321/.455/.495, 7 HR, 35 RBI, 12 2B (2023 NAIA Ball Freshman of the Year)
- Jake Cox (OF), 2024: G 57, .282/.396/.331, 29 RBI, 6 2B, 3B
- Kyler Ayers (OF), 2024: G 8, .140/.245/.140, 4 RBI
- Braden Browning (OF), 2024: G 50, .281/.403/.377, HR, 18 RBI
Pitchers
- Zachary Gaudreau (LHP), 2024: G 17, 3-0, 2 SV, 4.91 ERA, 29.1 IP, 28 H, 21 BB, 27 SO
- Alexis Hurens (RHP), 2024: G 13, 2-3, SV, 4.50 ERA, 38 IP, 39 H, 16 BB, 31 SO
- Mozart Durarte (RHP), 2024: G 13, 3-5, 9.54 ERA, 44.1 IP, 48 H, 46 BB, 58 SO
- Korey Aytes (RHP), 2024: G 8, 1-0, 3.38 ERA, 16 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 7 SO
- Matt Gamblin (LHP), 2024: G 15, 1-0, SV, 11.81 ERA, 16.1 IP, 19 H, 22 BB, 11 SO
- Tyler Stelly, 2024: G 7, 0-0, 5.27 ERA, 13.2 IP, 11 H, 7 BB, 9 SO
Incoming Players
- Gregory Berroa (UTL), Prev school: Huntington University
- Elvis Rojas (), Prev school: Eastern Nazarene
- Elian Cuevas (RHP), Prev school: Montreat College
- Frangely Morel (RHP), Prev school: Connors State College
- Dillon Palmer (P), Prev school: Rose State College
Outlook
Southwestern Christian has been looking to take the next step over the last few seasons. While winning the NCCAA National Championship is a nice thing, it is not the goal for a team in the Sooner Athletic Conference.
The Eagles return six players who appeared in at least 45 games from 2024. Jhors Gomez and Dario Paredes are studs in the Eagles lineup. Gomez was a 1st team NAIA All American in 2023 while Paredes was the National Freshman of the Year for NAIA Ball in 2023. They anchor a lineup that will need to provide some help to these two in 2025.
Coach Blackwell likes the experience this team has as well as the depth of his pitching.
However, Blackwell also says that they will need to improve their base running and their results in close games. The Eagles lost 13 games last year by 3 runs or less. If they would’ve won 7 of those games, they theoretically would’ve had 40 wins and who knows where they would’ve ended up in the SAC.
Nonetheless, the Eagles look to build on the NCCAA National Championship in 2025 (MACU won the 2023 NCCAA National Championship and was a #1 seed in their Regional in the NAIA Opening Round). Coach Blackwell thinks that if they can continue with their bat to ball skills and improve in other areas, they should compete for a SAC championship.
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