Andy Urban  
Oklahoma State Director
Follow @PBR_Oklahoma 

In a desire to best cover high school baseball in the state, PBR Oklahoma will be on the road this winter stopping by the practices and gathering information from teams around the state, highlighting top performers and difference makers for each club. Today, PBR Oklahoma will take an in-deep look at the 2017 Metro Christian Patriots.

Team: Metro Christian
Nickname: Patriots 
Class: 3A
Head Coach: Pat Foster
Years as head coach at school: 11th 
2016 Overall Record: 28-10
2016 Post­ Season Finish: State Championship Runner Up
Preseason Ranking: Will be updated upon release 

Players To Watch
Dylan Bierman, RHP/1B (2017)
Brody Gibson, C/RHP (2017) Oral Roberts
Blake Shannon, SS (2017) Johnson County 
Foster Roy, LHP/OF (2017) Richmond 
Ote Staton, 3B (2017)
Brady Papke, RHP/OF (2017)
Dalton Smallwood, OF/INF (2017)

SEASON OUTLOOK
The Patriots, who fell came up just short in last season’s State Championship game, are reloaded with many of the same players and will look to win it all this year. Metro Christian returns eight starting position players and four arms that threw over 15 innings a piece last season. Each one of these returners were named some level of all-conference players a year ago. Many of the senior Patriots are currently ranked in the PBR Oklahoma top 175.

Offensively, Brody Gibson (No. 16) will likely lead the way for the heart of the order for Metro Christian. Last season Gibson hit .358 with 38 RBI, and will look to build on those numbers this year. Ote Staton will likely join Gibson in the middle of the lineup after his .315 with 22 RHP and 13 doubles performance a season ago. Possible table setters for the Patriots include Blake Shannon (No. 62) who hit .385 with an OBP of .538 and 20 stolen bags, and Brady Papke who hit .378 and only struck out four times last season. Also contributing to the offence will be Dalton Smallwood  (No. 169) and Parker Wilson.

On the mound, the Patriots will look to the three headed monster of Gibson, Foster Roy(No. 34), and Dylan Bierman (No. 167) to fill the front end of the rotation. Gibson will come to the mound from behind the dish, featuring an upper 80’s fastball that has got as reached as the low 90’s at times. The long left-hander Roy punched out 101 batters a last season and posted a 1.55 ERA. Bierman posted a 0.84 ERA going 9-2 for Metro Christian. Papke will also be effective in important innings for the Patriots.  

Defensively, Metro Christian will be strong all the way around. Shannon will captain the infield for the shortstop position with good defenders  in Stanton and Smallwood to his right and left. Roy, Papke, and Wilson will man the grass. Gibson will catch a bulk of the innings.  

High School coaches can request a 2017 team survey by emailing PBR Oklahoma State Director, Andy Urban, at [email protected].

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