SSBR Fall Report – USAO Drovers – Sooner State Baseball Report

The 2026 college season will be here before you know it as the majority of our NCAA D2 squads will begin their seasons the last weekend of January.

In the past, we have looked ahead to the season with season previews, but this year we are changing it up a bit with a fall report that will also provide a look to the season ahead.

SSBR recently sent out questionnaires to each head coach of the small college (NCAA D2, NAIA, NCCAA) and JUCO schools in the state. We asked them to provide who their top returners, top newcomers, and top performers were in the fall. We’ve compiled that information into the fall report with an outlook for the upcoming 2026 season.

Today’s team: USAO Drovers

Level: NAIA

Conference: Sooner Athletic Conference

2025 Overall Record: 35-20

2025 GAC Record: 18-9 (3rd); SAC Tournament Champions

Head Coach: Tyle Hankins

Head Coaching Experience: 4 years (all at USAO)

Top Returning Players

Brian Ereu (RHP): 2025 SAC Pitcher of the Year; 2026 NAIA Preseason All American
Tyson Noel (LHP): 2025 All SAC 2nd Team
Chris Martinez (1B): Good offensive player for 3 seasons
Corey Morro (2B): Solid all around player in 2025
Nate Herchock (RHP): Solid out of bullpen in 2025

Top Newcomers

Henry Garcia, OF (Louisiana Monroe): Talented player who has chance to put up really good numbers in the SAC
Kason Johnson, LHP (Connors State): Should compete for a spot in starting rotation
Jake Finkelstein, LHP (Georgia Gwinnett): Should eat innings out of the bullpen
Sammy Chapman, OF (SW Tennessee JC): Outfielder with “juice,” Injured in 2025 but healthy now

Top Performers in Fall

Corey Morro
Henry Garcia
Chris Martinez
Tyson Noel
Brian Ereu

Outlook

The 2025 season for USAO end the same way the previous 8 seasons had for the Drovers – a trip to the NAIA National Tournament’s Opening Round. It was the 9th straight trip for USAO and 10th overall.

Also, the Drovers won the SAC Tournament defeated the top 2 seeds (Wayland Baptist and MACU) to do so.

However, as we see in college athletics, things will look different in Chickasha for 2026. Gone is perhaps the best offensive player in program history in Peyton McDowall and long time lead off hitter and table setter, Gage Ninness among others.

Don’t feel sorry for the Drovers though. They return one of the top pitchers in the country in Brian Ereu. Ereu has quite the resume in his first 3 years at USAO: 2024 NAIA All Amerian; 2026 NAIA Preseason AA; 2025 SAC Pitcher of the Year; 2x All SAC; 3x SAC Pitcher of the Week. Ereu is about as automatic as you will see at this level. Joining Ereu in the rotation will by Tyson Noel who was a All SAC 2nd Team member last year.

There will be a ton of new faces in Chickasha this year as head coach, Tyle Hankins, says it is an “all new team for the most part,” and (the Drovers) will “need to find consistency to find ways to win games.”

Hankins goes on to say that this team “has been fun to watch. (They) will need to figure out who (they) are and be the best team (they) can be. The guys have worked extremely hard and (he) is excited to watch them get the chance to compete.”

Something tells us the when the dust settles on the 2026 regular and SAC postseasons, the Drovers will be making another appearance in the NAIA Opening Round (let’s just hope it is somewhere else besides Lincoln, NE this time).

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