MILESTONE ZONE: OKWU baseball coach kelley approaches 300 wins after Eagles open season 6-0
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s head baseball coach Kirk Kelley is approaching 300 career wins. The Eagles are off to a 6-0 start.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
February 4, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Bat-smackin’ good, sizzlin’-arm certified and can-do-winnin’ attitude formulate a formidable powerhouse for the Oklahoma Wesleyan University baseball team.
Six games into the season, the Eagles have plowed to a 6-0 record (through Feb. 3), including three victories by margins of seven-or-more runs.
Kirk Kelley is starting his eighth season as the Eagles’ skipper — and approaching 300 career wins with the program.
Including the 6-0 start, Kelley’s OKWU cumulative record is 289-150. Prior to the end of February Kelley could join Matt Parker — who played college ball (Lyon) for Kelley — as the only two Eagle baseball coaches with 300 wins.
Kelley’s other OKWU resume highlights include winning the 2011 NCCAA national championship and capturing a NAIA regional title (and appearance in NAIA World Series) in 2021.
This year’s team might be one of Kelley’s best.
Through six games the Eagles are ripping the hide off the ball for a .367 team batting average, 17 homers, 68 runs, 65 RBI, 15 doubles, a .751 slugging percentage and .513 on-base percentage.
Javier Marcial (jr., Puerto Rico) tops the OKWU ball-mashers with a .579 batting average, three homers and 12 RBI. Connor Hickey is next (.529 avg., 1.000 slugging percentage, two home runs and five RBI).
Rounding out OKWU’s .400 hitters are: leadoff hitter Ravaughn Morgan (sr., Pflugerville, Texas) (.450, 11 runs scored, six RBI and .593 on-base percentage), Chase Pinheiro (jr., Clovis, Calif.) (.412, two homers and 10 RBI), Braydon Caldwell (soph., Conroe, Texas) (.412, three doubles and six RBI) and Luis Antigua (jr., Dominican Republic) (.400, two homers, .867 slugging percentage and six RBI).
Caldwell hasn’t struck out in 17 at-bats.
There’s no surprise veteran thrower Evan Foor (sr., Arcadia, Calif.) leads the pitching staff. Foor boasts a perfect earned run average (0.00) in two starts and 7.0 innings of work. He has walked only one batter and won in both appearances.
Michael Mendoza (5th year, West Covina, Calif.) also has started twice and fashioned a 2.57 ERA in seven innings. Ashton Luera (sr., Albuquerque, N.M.) has come out of the bullpen twice and accumulated a 3.00 ERA with 10 strikeouts in six innings.
The next busiest pitcher has been Aden Brothers (jr., Gridley, Calif.) with 5.1 innings. He has started two games, won one of them and posted a 3.38 ERA.
Two former area stars help populate the Eagle roster — Alan Covarrubias (Bartlesville High) and Cole Hancock (Dewey High).
Hancock (jr., LHP) has worked a scoreless inning of relief. Covarrubias (soph.) also is a left-handed pitcher.
In its most recent action, the Eagles overwhelmed the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis, 23-13.
Victor Sanchez (sr., Miami, Fla.) socked a two-run homer to open the scoring in the bottom of the first for OKWU. Sanchez would finish with five RBI, followed by third baseman Matthew Campos (jr., Torrence, Calif.) with four RBI.
Designated hitter Connor Hickey (sr., Australia) boosted the bottom part of the lineup with three hits (including a double and homer) and two RBI.
Kelley sent 20 batters to the plate and utilized five pitchers.
The Eagles will spend this week in Florida to take on the New College of Florida and Ave Maria University.
Their next home game won’t be until Feb. 21, when they play host to the University of Saint Mary (Kan.) in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
NOTE: Kelley could have worked 300 career wins last season — in less than seven complete campaigns —except for a shortened 2020 season (28 games) due to the virus lockdown.
Following is a year-by-year win-loss record at OKWU for Kelley. He resigned his first stint in 2011 and returned in 2019.
2010: 25-31
2011: 39-28
2019: 45-11
2020: 14-14
2021: 49-11
2022: 38-19
2023: 38-16
2024: 35-20
2025: 6-0