Oklahoma Baptist Bison 2025 Season Preview

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 (Junior College) level: Oklahoma Baptist Bison.

2024 Recap

OBU had a season that was marked with flashes of greatness and flashes of inconsistency in 2024. The Bison finished with the 3rd highest overall winning percentage in the Great American Conference (GAC) while finishing in 8th place in the conference standings. While finishing in the last qualifying spot for the GAC Tournament, OBU finished only 2 games out of 4th place. Furthermore, the Bison took the #1 seed Arkansas-Monticello to the brink as the Boll Weevils walked it off on an error in extras in the 3rd game of a Best of 3 to advance. (Arkansas-Monticello went on to win the GAC Tournament and their NCAA D2 Regional before losing to Central Missouri in the Super Regionals.)

OBU was the best offensive team in the GAC in 2024. They led the conference in AVG .335 (2nd was .304), Runs 484 (2nd was 405), HRs 93 (2ns was 84), OBP .449 (2nd was .419), and SLG .573 (2nd was .508). They finished a close 2nd in total hits at 575 (Arkansas-Monticello had 578 but played 6 more games).

It was on the mound where the Bison struggled. They finished 9th place in the GAC in team ERA with 6.68. OBU finished 9th in walks.

Team Basics

Official name: Oklahoma Baptist University Bison
Level: NCAA Div II
Location: Shawnee, OK
Conference: Lone Star Conference
Head Coach: Chris Cox (6th year at OBU, 6th overall)

2024 Team Statistics

Batting
– Games: 52, .335/.449/.573, 93 HR, 455 RBI, 575 H, 109 2B, 10 3B, 305 BB, 400 SO

Pitching
– Games: 52, 32-20, 6.68 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, 410.2 IP, 526 H, 235 BB, 394 SO

Returners

Position Players

Jayden Shafer (1B), 2024: G 52, .316/.488/.390, HR, 36 RBI, 9 2B, 3B, 54 BB
Spencer Dickinson (3B), 2024: G 51, .316/.402/.513, 10 HR, 48 RBI, 7 2B, 23 BB
Jacob Campbell (SS), 2024: G 52, .266/.413/.527, 11 HR, 33 RBI, 11 2B, 38 BB
Austin Gonzalez (OF), 2024: G 37, .282/.418/.412, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 2 2B, 21 BB
Matt Marsic (OF), 2024: G 24, .200/.294/.267, 6 RBI, 2 2B, 4 BB
Braden Smith (C), 2024: DNP

Pitchers

Ryan Tuberville (LHP), 2024: G 17/GS 8, 4-2, 2 SV, 5.96 ERA, 51.1 IP, 66 H, 22 BB, 37 SO
Will Ellis (RHP), 2024: G 20, 2-2, 3 SV, 7.71 ERA, 35 IP, 46 H, 25 BB, 34 SO
Logan Kimbro (LHP), 2024: G 17/GS 6, 5-2, SV, 5.86 ERA, 50.2 IP, 71 H, 22 BB, 37 SO
Bryant Thornton (RHP), 2024: G 19/GS 1, 1-2, 4 SV, 7.23 ERA, 42.1 IP, 48 H, 30 BB, 49 SO
Ayden Wood (LHP), DNP

Incoming Players

Nick Meyer (LHP), Prev school: Abilene Christian; 2 seasons at ACU: G 7, 0-0, 2.57 ERA, 7 IP, 6 H, 8 BB, 7 SO
David Stuart (RHP), Prev school: Texas A&M Corpus Christi; 2024: G 11/GS 1, 1-1, 9.19 ERA, 15.2 IP, 27 H, 10 BB, 15 SO
Jalen Johnson (RHP), Prev school: UT Permian Basin; 2024: G 2, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 IP, H, BB, 4 SO
Javarian Roquemore (RHP), Prev school: Murray State College; 2 season at MSC: G 26/GS 2, 2-3, 2 SV, 7.15 ERA, 34 IP, 33 H, 30 BB, 42 SO
Marcus Peters (RHP), Prev school: Dallas-Eastfield College; 2 seasons at Dallas-Eastfield: G 42/GS 26, 15-6, 2.98 ERA, 126.2 IP, 88 H, 81 BB, 162 SO; 2024 NJCAA DIII 2nd Team All American
DJ Van Atten (UTL), Prev school: Abilene Christian; 2024: (ACU) G 47, .253, 5 HR, 32 RBI, 42 H, 9 2B; 2023 GAC Player of the Year/ABCA All American (SNU); (Latta HS Alum)
Lucas Schaefer (UTL), Prev school: College of Marin; Career at College of Marin: .350, 26 HR, 77 RBI (.710 SLG); Pacific Assoc Northern CA All-Region 2nd Team
Zane Bennett (OF), Prev school: Santa Rosa JC (CA); 2024: G 42, .283/.340/.555, 13 HR, 46 RBI; Big 8 All Conference 1st Team
Kennan Morris (INF), Prev school: Santa Rosa JC (CA); 2024: G 43, .288/.462/.468, 5 HR, 29 RBI; Big 8 Conference Gold Glove
Jesse Tisdell (OF), Prev school: Johnson County CC; 2 seasons at JCCC: G 90, .302, 2 HR, 48 RBI, 11 2B, 4 3B, 40 BB; 2 NJCAA CWS (Choctaw HS alum)
Jaxon McAuliff (C), Prev school: Crowder College; 2024: G 6, .150/.261/.200, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB; NJCAA CWS Appearance (Jenks HS alum)

Outlook

The Bison are losing some of the best players in the program’s history from the 2024 squad. Troy Shields and Alex Schroeder had 42 HRs and 164 RBIs between them. Isaiah Lissade led off for the Bison and led the team in both hits and runs.

OBU returns 3 full time starters (Shafer, Dickinson, Campbell) who all logged at least 33 RBIs each along with another (Gonzalez) who appeared in 37 games and had 15 RBIs.

Incoming transfer, DJ Van Atten spent a year at NCAA D1, Abilene Christian, but before that he was a dominant player at Southern Nazarene where he was named the 2023 GAC Player of the Year along with being an ABCA All American. He should be able to provide some of the slug that is leaving with Shields and Schroeder.

Coach Cox and his staff feel like while they may be losing some run producers, the offense in 2025 will have an opportunity to be more dynamic and score runs in multiple ways.

On the mound, Coach Cox feels the depth will be a strength. OBU returns 4 pitchers who all logged at least 35 innings in 2024. The Bison will have 2 pitchers who pitched at the NCAA D1 level last year coming in and another who was a NJCAA D3 All American. Not only that, the Bison have a good mix of righties and lefties that will allow them to match up better against the opposing teams’ lineups.

While the Bison will need to find the consistency that they’ve missed the last couple of seasons, Coach Cox likes how the Fall went for the Bison. The chemistry and culture took shape quickly.

This Bison team may look different than they have in the past couple of years, but with the new faces coming in, the depth they’ve created, and the chemistry on this team, the dynamics are there for OBU to challenge for a GAC Championship.

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