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BRONCHOS TO HOST: Central Oklahoma used a late-season push to earn a top-four finish in the final standings and will host a first-round series in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Post-season Tournament this week.
The fourth-seeded Bronchos (28-17) will meet Emporia State (27-20) in a best-of-three series starting at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Wendell Simmons Field. The teams play again at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the “if necessary” contest set for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $5, with children 6-and-under admitted free.
Other first-round match-ups have regular season champion and No. 1 seed Missouri Western (35-8) hosting Fort Hays State (23-20), second-seeded Central Missouri (34-9) entertaining Pittsburg State (26-21) and No. 3 seed Missouri Southern (29-18) taking on Northeastern State (27-21).
The four series winners advance to Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. on May 9-11 for a double elimination tournament. The MIAA Post-season Tournament champion earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II national tournament.
The Bronchos haven't qualified for the Division II playoffs since 2006.
UCO won 10 of its final 11 conference games to finish in a tie for third with MSSU at 23-16, but the Lions earned the third seed on a tiebreaker.
HOME SWEET HOME: The Bronchos played 30 of their 45 regular season games at Wendell Simmons Field, going 23-7.
UCO will take an eight-game home winning streak into the series with Emporia State, including three-game conference sweeps of Nebraska-Kearney and Washburn during its late-season surge.
The Bronchos took both home games against ESU, winning 9-7 and 8-5 back on March 6. The Hornets swept the return doubleheader in Emporia, Kan. on April 3, winning 3-1 and 6-0.
UCO IN THE MIAA: Central Oklahoma is in its first season in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association and was picked to finish fourth in the pre-season coaches' poll.
The Bronchos were 10th in the packed conference standings before a mid-April series with Nebraska-Kearney, but won eight of their last nine conference games to jump all the way to a tie for third.
ABOUT UCO HITTERS: The Bronchos are hitting .295 as a team, averaging 8.9 hits and 6.8 runs a game.
• Junior SS Cesar Wong leads the team with a .343 average that includes eight doubles, five home runs and 28 runs batted in. He has a .429 on-base percentage.
• Junior DH Matt Malloy is hitting .327 with 10 doubles, seven homers and 33 RBI. He tops UCO in multi-hit games with 18.
• Junior OF Tyler Crabtree is batting .327 with a staggering .500 on-base percentage. He's been hit by pitch a Division II-leading 39 times, which is just two off the single-season Division II record. Crabtree has been hit by pitch at least twice in 12 games.
• Junior 3B Matt Johnson has a .312 average and is the team leader in doubles (18), homers (nine) and RBI (43).
ABOUT UCO PITCHERS: The Bronchos have a 5.52 team earned run average, giving up 9.2 hits and 5.6 runs a game.
• Senior RH Edgar Lopez is UCO's top starter with a 7-3 record and 3.96 ERA. He's pitched a team-high 75 innings and has 69 strikeouts, with opponents hitting just .239 against him.
• Junior RH Ethan Sharp has been used in starting and relief roles, though mostly in relief. He's 3-0 with five saves and a team-best 3.08 ERA, having fanned 22 batters in 26 1/3 innings.
ABOUT EMPORIA STATE: The Hornets lost their last four games of the regular season to drop from third to fifth in the final MIAA standings.
ESU is hitting .294 as a team, averaging 9.2 hits and 5.6 runs a game. Six players are hitting over .300, led by Todd Reller (.385) and Eric Dawson (.359, team-high 32 RBI).
The Hornets have a 4.55 team ERA, giving up 9.0 hits and 4.9 runs a contest. Kevin Shaffer (3-2, 2.28 ERA) and Dakota McKaskle (6-4, 3.06) top the pitching staff.
ABOUT THE COACH: Dax Leone is 83-57 in his third year at the UCO helm, taking over the reigns in 2010 following stints as a head coach and assistant coach at various levels around the country and in Canada.
His first team won 10 of its last 11 games to rally for a 24-23 finish and the Bronchos followed with a 31-17 campaign last year for the first 30-win season since 2008.
A standout pitcher at Seminole State and Texas, Leone had assistant coaching stints at East Central, St. Gregory's, Seminole, Louisiana-Monroe and Oklahoma State before coming to UCO.
