The postseason is officially here! It seems like the 3rd weekend in January was just yesterday, but here we are 3 months later with the Sooner Athletic Conference starting their postseason championship (tournament) this Friday.

The SAC changed up their championship format last year with the addition of a 10th team in the College of the Ozarks. The top 8 teams make the field and the tournament will take 2 weekends to complete. The top 4 teams host a best of 3 series (1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, 4 vs 5) and those winners move on to a 4 team, double elimination tournament the following weekend. This year that tournament will be held in Joplin, MO.

The winner of the tournament will get an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Weekend (National Tournament) along with the regular season champ, Texas Wesleyan. (If TWU wins the SAC Tournament, the runner up will get the auto bid.)

The top eight teams and their seedings are:

• 1. Texas Wesleyan (22-5)
• 2. MACU (20-7)
• 3. OCU (15-12)
• 4. Central Christian (15-12)
• 5. Nelson (14-13)
• 6. Wayland Baptist (13-14)
• 7. USAO (13-14)
• 8. College of the Ozarks (11-16)

Also it is important to know where the three remaining Oklahoma teams are on the national level.

• MACU (33-11): RPI 23, SOS 68
• USAO (20-22): RPI 52, SOS 7
• OCU (20-25): RPI 59, SOS 11

The Evangels look to be a lock to make the NAIA Opening Round.

Both USAO and OCU seem to be in the same boat. While they both have elite strengths of schedule, they both have losing records and RPIs in the 50s. Outside of winning the SAC Tournament to get the auto bid, they both most likely need to get to next weekend to have any chance for an at-large and that also depends on no upsets in other conferences.

For this preview, we will only look at the series with Oklahoma teams.

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MACU (2nd seed) vs USAO (7th seed)

Where: MACU (OKC)
When: Friday, Game 1, 2:00 p.m.; Game 2, 5:00 p.m.;
Saturday, Game 3 (if necessary), 1:00 p.m.

The good news: one Oklahoma team is guaranteed to advance to the bracket in Joplin.

The bad news: one Oklahoma team is guaranteed to NOT advance to the bracket in Joplin.

This is a matchup of rivals who just played last weekend in OKC and will do so again this weekend.

Over the last few seasons, this has turned into a pretty good rivalry between the Evangels and Drovers. USAO has made the NAIA national tournament 10 straight seasons (11 overall) while MACU has made their first 2 trips over the last 2 seasons.

MACU Team Stats

• Team slash line: .324/.436/.525
• Team home runs: 55
• Team RBI: 294
• Team runs/game: 7.48
• Team ERA: 3.78
• Team WHIP: 1.36
• Team Strikeouts: 339

The Evangels have had an up and down season, starting the season 0-4 against some tough competition. Since that start, MACU is 33-7 and swept the league champ, Texas Wesleyan on the road at the end of February.

On the offensive side, Nick Hill has been a beast for MACU. He leads the team in OPS (1.259), HR (18 – an NAIA era program record), RBI (60), doubles (15), and total bases (124).

Jalen King leads the team in AVG (.386), hits (59), runs (51) and stolen bases (26). Adam Hanan (1.088), Frankie Giacalone (1.069), and Sammy Hallada (1.032) also have OPS over 1.000 for qualified hitters.

On the mound, the Evangels have been led by Ibrahim Gonzalez and Fabian Hernandez. They both have 11 appearances with Gonzalez making 10 starts and Hernandez 11.

Gonzalez leads the team with a miniscule ERA of 1.41 and WHIP of 1.07. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 65/19.

Hernandez has an ERA of 4.40, but don’t let that fool you on how talented he is. He has a WHIP of 1.20 and a K/BB ration of 73/19. He has the ability to dominate a game and shut down offenses.

Liam Taft is the go-to guy when the Evangels have a lead late. He has 12 saves for MACU and has 17 K in 16 innings pitched.

USAO Team Stats

• Team slash line: .313/.445/.491
• Team home runs: 47
• Team RBI: 320
• Team runs/game: 8.66
• Team ERA: 6.23
• Team WHIP: 1.72
• Team Strikeouts: 271

It is safe to say that the Drovers have not had the season they are accustomed to. As stated above, USAO is in danger of not making the NAIA Opening Round for the first time in 11 seasons. However, the Drovers have shown at times that they can be a formidable team and if they make the national tournament, no one would want to play them.

On the offensive side, Henry Garcia has led the Drovers in 2026. He leads the team in OPS (1.146), HR (12), RBI (45), and doubles (10).

Alfonso Camacho (1.021) and Corey Morro (1.064) also have OPS over 1.000. On top of that, the Dovers have 4 other players with RBI over 30.

On the mound, the top 2 pitchers for USAO are Brian Ereu and Tyson Noel. Ereu has not had the season he’s used to with an ERA north of 4, but he does lead the team in innings pitched. His WHIP is still a low 1.42 and he is an NAIA All American so the experience and talent is there. Noel has an ERA of 6.41, but his WHIP is also low at 1.47. Three of his last 4 starts of the quality variety (6 IP, no more than 3 earned runs) including a 7 inning, shutout against Nelson.

As stated above, these 2 teams played just last weekend. USAO won game 2 (4-3) sandwiched between wins by MACU in game 1 (3-1) and game 3 (15.5).

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OCU (3 seed)vs Wayland Baptist (6 seed)

Where: OCU (OKC)
When: Friday, Game 1, 1:00 p.m.; Game 2, 4:00 p.m.;
Saturday, Game 3 (if necessary), 1:00 p.m.

The bad news: OCU has not had the season they are accustomed to.

The good news: OCU still managed to get things together at the right time and finish 3rd in conference and host an opening series.

OCU came into the last week of the SAC regular season battling for seeding and was in a tie for 6th. The Stars were able to sweep the College of the Ozarks with all 3 games being 1 run wins to move up into a tie for 3rd. OCU gets the 3 seed based on their series win over Central Christian earlier in the season.

OCU is in the same boat as USAO. They most likely will need to win the SAC Championship and get the auto bid to make it to the NAIA Opening Round.

OCU Team Stats

• Team slash line: .295/.389/.487
• Team home runs: 54
• Team RBI: 268
• Team runs/game: 5.96
• Team ERA: 7.89
• Team WHIP: 1.95
• Team Strikeouts: 314

Aiden Van Rensum leads the Stars at the plate. He leads the team in OPS (1.226), HR (15), RBI (62), doubles (14) and total bases (116).

Trent Baker leads the team in AVG (.374), hits (61), and stolen bases (29). He also has an OPS of 1.021.

Aiden Alexander is a 4 year starter in center field for the Stars and provides a solid stick for OCU with average of .353 and OPS of .926.

Bauer Brittain and Cayden Maxwell lead OCU on the mound. They both have 13 appearances with Maxwell all starts and Brittain having 11 starts.

Brittain had a nice outing 2 starts ago vs USAO going 6 innings and not allowing a run on only 6 hits. In his start vs Wayland Baptist, Brittain went 5 innings allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits.

The Stars are 6-2 in their last 8 games.

Wayland Baptist

We aren’t going to get into the weeds about WBU, but it is important to note the Pioneers are 3-11 in their last 14 games to finish the season. They also lost 2 of 3 to the Stars in late February, so the Stars should have some confidence heading into the weekend.

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