The East Central University baseball team will be heading to Dallas, Texas for a four-game tournament at Dallas Christian College, Feb. 6-7 before returning home to host the first game of the season at Ken Turner Field.  The Tigers will face Hannibal-LaGrange College and Tabor College, Friday, Feb. 6 and the host Crusaders and Midland (Neb.), Saturday, Feb. 7 at the tournament.  ECU will then come home to host Oklahoma Baptist, Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 2 p.m.

Game Notes

The Tournament Field
The Tigers will be facing three teams for the NAIA ranks and one from the NCCCA in the Dallas Christian Tournament.  Hannibal-LaGrange, Tabor College and Midland will all be playing their first games of the season, while DCC has already won two games in 2015.  Hannibal-LaGrange finished the 2014 season with a 16-35-1 record.  Tabor College and Midland both advanced to the NAIA World series, with Tabor going 51-13 in 2014 and Midland 43-19.  DCC advanced to the NCCCA World Series in 2014.

The Coverage
Fans who can't be at the game can find links to live stats, live video (if available) on ECUTigers.com.  Go to the baseball schedule page.

Scouting Oklahoma Baptist
The Bison will open the 2015 season this weekend against York College and were 55-9 last year.  OBU advanced deep into the NAIA World Series and finished the season with a .342 team batting average.

Joey Szczepanski and Garrett Gallacher are the key returners for the Bison at the plate.  Szczepanski tallied a .380 batting average, with 62 runs, 78 hits and 53 RBIs.  Gallacher added a .375 average, six runs, 36 hits and 31 RBIs.  Kelvin Rivas is the top returner on the mound for OBU, with a 1.99 ERA.  Rivas went 10-1 for the season in 72.1 innings of work.  He allowed 57 hits, 19 runs and 22 walks, while striking out 66 batters.

Against the Bison
Last year the Tigers and OBU split the series, with each earning a high-scoring win at home.  ECU won 13-7 and then lost 4-23 in Shawnee.

Seniors Garrett Donohoe and Luc Pomales were the top producers at the plate for ECU.  Both hit .500 in the series, with Donohoe tallying two runs, four hits and three RBIs.  Pomales added one run, three hits, a home run and five RBIs.

Senior Oscar Gomez earned a win on the mound in six innings of work.  He allowed three hits, three runs and struck out four.

Shakeel Newton led the Bison with a .667 batting average on two runs, two hits and four RBIs.  Joey Szczepanski added four runs, three hits and four RBIs.  Kelvin Rivas threw four innings for OBU, allowing five hits and four runs, while striking out five.

Winning Start
For the first time since the 2010 season, the Tigers opened the season with a win in the first game when they defeated Cameron 6-1.  The last opening game win was a 7-2 decision against West Texas A&M (Feb. 15, 2010).

Kaplan Completing Games
Senior Lucas Kaplan came out ready to pitch, and earned his fourth career complete game in the 6-1 win over Cameron.  It also marked the second complete game for Kaplan against the Aggies.  Kaplan allowed three hits, one run, two walks and struck out five.

Bryce Beyond the Fence
Senior Bryce McKee came to the plate ready to start the season.  McKee garnered two hits and two runs in the first two games of the season, including the first home run of the year for the Tigers.

Returning Power
The Tigers will be looking to continue the success they started in 2014 and will have a strong chance to do so as they return 22 players, including eight starters from the roster.

ECU saw six members of the 2014 squad earn All-GAC honors, the most representatives in a single season.  Four of those players will return for 2015, with juniors Garrett Donohoe, Luc Pomales, Nick Spini (All-GAC Second Team) and Andrew Ayrado (honorable mention) on the roster.

GAC Preseason Poll
After finishing tied for seventh a season ago, ECU has been picked to finish tied for sixth in the 2015 Great American Conference Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Tigers, who were 26-23 overall and 14-16 in the GAC in 2014, earned 50 points in the poll and were tied with Ouachita Baptist for sixth.  Southern Arkansas was picked to finish first, with 97 points and seven first-place votes.  Arkansas Tech was a close second with 93 points and four first-place votes.  Arkansas-Monticello was third (76), Southwestern Oklahoma State fourth (67) and Harding fifth (60).

Rounding out the final four spots in the poll are Southeastern Oklahoma State in eighth (45), Henderson State in ninth (34), Northwestern Oklahoma State 10th (20) and Southern Nazarene in 11th (13).

Up Next
The Tigers will get ready to start the Great American Conference portion of the season, Feb. 13-14 when they travel to Weatherford, Okla., for a three-game series with Southwestern Oklahoma State.  Friday's game is set to start at 2 p.m. and Saturday's double header is set for noon.