Shortstop Jonah Bride (right) celebrates with teammates at home plate after hitting a home run last season. The Rams have eight returning starters from last year's team that finished undefeated with a school-record 36 wins and 6A state championship.
Photo courtesy of Owasso Baseball Team
How does a team top the greatest season in school history? The Owasso Rams are going to find out.
Coming
off a season in which they finished undefeated with a school-record 36
wins and a Class 6A state championship, the Rams have all the pieces in place
necessary to make a similar run this year.
With eight returning starters from a team that finished the 2013
season ranked No. 2 in the Xcellent 25, Owasso begins the 2014 season as
the No. 2 team in the Xcellent 25 preseason national baseball
rankings.
The preseason baseball countdown will conclude tomorrow with the naming of the No. 1 team and the Top 100.
See the Top 10 teams landing page here"Our experienced
players returning will be huge for us coming off a championship season,"
said Owasso assistant coach Steve Holleman. "We should be very good
offensively and defensively and we return our top two pitchers."
Pitcher Jeb Bargfeldt
Photo courtesy of Owasso Baseball Team
Few
teams can match the in-state success of Owasso. The Rams have reached
the state finals 15 of the past 17 years and have won nine state titles
during that stretch. Coach Larry Turner, meanwhile, needs just 31 wins
to join the 1,000 win club.
Making a run at another state title and an undefeated season won't
be easy, but the Rams have all the pieces in place. Owasso's top two
pitchers from last year return in
Jeb Bargfeldt and
Braden Webb.
Bargfeldt was 9-0 with 91 strikeouts and a 1.29 ERA last year while Webb
was 5-0 with a 1.98 ERA and 53 strikeouts.
Mason O'Brien and
Jonah Bride are two of six returning starters in
the field. O'Brien is the top returning hitter after batting .357 with eight
home runs and 38 RBIs. Bride, meanwhile, moves from second base to
shortstop. He batted .344 last year with 32 runs scored.
The Rams are also solid behind the plate and in the outfield.
Garrett Hall is back to play catcher while Bargfeldt, Bryce Colt and
Blake Enzbrenner return in the outfield.
"We have players that understand our tradition and buy into our
philosophy," said Holleman. "They expect to win and that attitude is passed down from one year to the next."
