Baseball Set For MIAA Tourney

5/6/2014 3:52:00 PM

• Notes
• Live Stats
• Live Audio (Thursday game(s) only)

Central Oklahoma travels to Springfield, Mo., for the final four of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament this weekend at Hammons Field.

The third-seeded Bronchos will play No. 2 seed Emporia State at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, with fourth-seeded Missouri Western taking on No. 8 Northeastern State in the other first-round game at 11 a.m.

ESU, which eliminated Washburn in the first round, split the regular season series with UCO. The Bronchos won a memorable 17-16 slugfest in the opener before the Hornets won two of the final three games as pitching dominated the rest of the series.

Scouting the Bronchos
The Bronchos come in with a 36-15 record and finished third in the MIAA with a 26-14 record. UCO lost four straight games to end the regular season, but righted the ship in the conference tournament eliminating Nebraska-Kearney in two games.

UCO was without starters Matt Johnson and Tyler Crabtree, but still found ways to win a pair of one-run games. Wacey Henderson had the big hit with a solo home run in the eighth inning that gave the Bronchos a 4-3 victory in the deciding game.

The Bronchos have been led by Phillip Wilson all season. Wilson is currently riding a 14-game hitting streak and has seen his average go down during that streak from .471 to .453.

He's tied for the team lead with 13 home runs and second in doubles and RBIs with 14 and 44, respectively. He has also served as the team's closer and is second on UCO's single season saves list with nine.

Ricky Reeves has been the ace for the Bronchos pitching staff and leads in wins and ERA. He's currently 8-1 with a 2.01 earned run average.

Jared Sterling has pitched well for the Bronchos and is 7-3 with a 2.77 ERA and three complete games. Landon Hallam has come on lately for the Bronchos recording an eight-out save in the first game against Nebraska-Kearney and getting the win in the second game.

Scouting Emporia State
Emporia State (36-16) comes in among the hottest teams in the conference, having won 17 of its last 19 games and overtaking UCO for the No. 2 seed. The Hornets narrowly advanced to the final four, having to rally for two runs to beat Washburn in the third game of its three-game series.

Emporia State likes to run, having stolen 119 bases led by Justin Harris and Levi Parker with 39 and 30 stolen bases, respectively. Price Jacobs leads the team in hitting at. 360, while Dean Lond leads the league with 55 runs batted in.

Shawn Talkington has been the leading pitcher for the Hornets and is 7-2 with a 2.74 ERA. He combined on a four-hit shut out against the Bronchos in the previous meeting back on Feb. 22 allowing just three hits over six innings of work. Dakota McKaskie also has seven wins, while Brenton Higgins is 6-1 with a 1.41 ERA and has recorded 12 saves. Higgins has a win or a save in 18 of his 25 appearances.

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