OBU Ranked Fifth in AFCA DII Coaches’ Top 25

August 28, 2019

By OBU SPORTS INFORMATION

ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Tigers Football are ranked fifth in American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Coaches’ Top 25 to start the season.

The Tigers earn the ranking after going 12-1 last season which included making it to the NCAA Division II Playoff semifinals. The Tigers also were the number one rated defense in 2018 during the regular season returning many starters this season.

Ouachita is one of two Great American Conference teams selected to the Top 25. The other team chosen is 18th ranked Harding University, who the Tigers face week one in the NCAA Division II Showcase on the ESPN App.

Ranked first in the polls is reigning Division II National Champions, Valdosta State. After them are the runner ups for the National Championship, Ferris State, who defeated Ouachita in the semifinals last season. The Tigers then trail Minnesota State and Notre Dame (Ohio) rounding out the top five.

Ouachita starts their season on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 7:05 at Cliff Harris Stadium.

Final Game is Won by Normal

April 10, 1912

Conway Log Cabin Democrat

CONWAY — Going after the with a determination not to allow the visitors to make a clean sweep of the series, the State Normal defeated Ouachita, 4 to 1, in the final contest at Hendrix park yesterday afternoon. The Pedagogues showed a remarkable reversal of form, playing an almost perfect game in the field and bunching their hits effectively. Landers pitched splendidly. While allowing more hits than Sammons, he kept them scattered in all except the eighth, when the visitors made their lone tally. The Ouachita infield was unsteady. H. Muse, their first-baseman, accumulated four errors.

Ouachita … 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 8 7

Normal …… 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 x — 4 5 2

Batteries — Normal, Landers and Sipe. Ouachita, Sammons and Easterline. Umpire — Parker.

The Ouachita team left this morning (April 11) for Russellville, where after two games with the Second District Agricultural School, they go to Cumberland and to Fayetteville to play the Razorbacks.

On account of the unsettled weather, Coach Nixon of the Normal canceled the games today (April 11) and tomorrow with Cumberland College. This team has been playing at Batesville and passed through Conway today on their way home.

Ouachita takes Second Game

April 8, 1912

Conway Log Cabin Democrat

CONWAY — In a contest marked by loose fielding and erratic pitching, Ouachita took the second game with the State Normal, 15 to 9. Neither Savage nor Ellis had any control, the former passing four and hitting three, while Ellis walked nine and “beaned” two. The visitors, however, outbatted the Normal team, and this accounts in the main for their victory. Savage’s wildness was responsible for five scores by the locals in the fifth, when he allowed but one hit.

The Normal team held their own until the eighth, when they blew up and five errors, two bases on balls and three hits were bunched for a total of eight runs. With the game stowed away, the visitors eased up again in the ninth, when a single, a base on balls and a triple resulted in three runs. Ellis showed the effects of his Saturday’s game and was easy for Ouachita, while Savage, barring his lack of control, mystified the Normal batsman. Landers’ catch of Sammons’ line drive to center was the redeeming feature of the game.

Hendrix Baseball Team Disbanded

Players are Disciplined

Champions of 1911 Cancel All Games and Will Not Play This Year

April 5, 1912

Conway Log Cabin Democrat

CONWAY — As a result of the failure of several players to meet the rigid requirements fixed by the faculty, the Hendrix College baseball team has been so badly “shot to pieces” that Coach W.O. Wilson today canceled all games on the Hendrix schedule and announced that the team had been disbanded for the year. Through this action, the team, which won the state collegiate championship last year, will not participate in a single game during 1912.

The announcement was received with the greatest regret by local fans. Coach Wilson stated that the team was already weak in the pitcher’s box and the failure of the players to qualify, left only one dependable twirler. The team was further weakened by the loss of catcher W.W. Parker, who decided several weeks ago not to play this year. In all, about five other regulars on the team were disqualified for failure to make the required grades or for other irregularities. The standard at Hendrix for participation in intercollegiate events of any kind is very severe, the requirements being a passing daily grade and examination grade on at least 10 hours of college work per week, besides a strict conformity to the discipline of the institution.

Coach Wilson today wired coach Miller of Ouachita of the disbanding of the team and has written the other colleges in the association to the same effect. Ouachita was scheduled to play here tomorrow and Saturday.

Coach R.L. Nixon of the State Normal, however, has arranged to play Ouachita here next Saturday and Monday and Tuesday of next week. He said today’s Saturday game will be played at Hendrix park.

Much sympathy is felt for Coach Wilson, who happened to the same misfortune last year, when in charge of the Normal team, at which time his men “fell down” and he was forced to cancel all of his games.