Bartlesville ace Brenden Asher eyes future with Oral Roberts baseball

From the first time he lifted up Brenden Asher as a newborn infant, John Pannell suspected he might be holding a bundle of baseball talent.

Destiny then took over. Pannell recalls Asher as the little boy with the plastic bat and ball, as the older boy honing his diamond skills to serrated precision, as an eighth grader who was promoted to practice with the high school team and as the 14-year-old who earned a spot on the 19-and-under Bartlesville Doenges Ford baseball team. And now as a Bartlesville High School graduate that is earmarked to play Division I baseball at Oral Roberts University.

For the past 18 years, Pannell has kept track of Asher’s journey from “goo-goo” to tricycles to T-Ball to junior high to summer baseball to young manhood. In addition to being a valued family friend, Pannell also has been Asher’s coach a good chunk of the way.

“I’m privileged to watch him become what he has,” Pannell said this week. “I look back to before (Bartlesville High) had a junior high program and watching Brendon working out as an eighth grader with the high school. I tip my hat to coach (Cody) Price for doing that.”

Asher also leaped over a huge gap of progress at age 14 by trying out for Pannell’s Doenges Ford American Legion baseball summer team. Normally, a player that young might have been cut, or at least consigned to the 17-and-under Braves.

But Pannell gave Asher a chance to earn a uniform with the big club.

It wasn’t until I got a confirmation from Jakob (Hall) that I made my decision to keep Brenden that summer,” Pannell said. “I wanted them two (Asher and Hall) to play the middle infield together the entire summer. … I told Jakob he had two jobs, to play his position and to mentor Brenden.”

Hall — who was three grades ahead of Asher — went on to become a pitching star at ORU. The pair were scheduled to be part of the ORU pitching staff for the 2025 spring season. But that plan is now kaput — after Hall was picked in the eighth round by the Minnesota Twins in this year’s pro baseball draft.

Asher and Hall have been compared with identical pitching styles.

“It’s eerily similar,” Pannell said. “The one aspect with a slight difference about Jakob is he is the same no matter whether it’s going good or going bad. That’s something Brenden has gotten better at. They can both be dominant pitchers. To have two pitchers like that come through Bartlesville in such a short amount of time is really rare.”

Asher also boasts a rare baseball genealogy. His uncle Joe Kelton — who played local baseball in the mid-to-latter 2000s — was one of the top catchers, clutch batters and toughest warriors to ever suit up for Bartlesville High and the Doenges Ford program.

“I was always around him growing up,” Asher said — which no doubt fed Asher’s own desire to master the sport.

Asher — who defines success as “just hard work, you have to put the time in” — said he’s always had a burning desire to succeed at baseball and to play college ball, specifically ORU.

“Ever since I started going to their games, I always wanted to go there,” he said.

ORU first took serious notice of Asher during the Oklahoma State Games in 2023.

“They invited me to a showcase at their place,” he said.

That led to ORU — which advanced to the 2023 College World Series, with Hall as one of its elite hurlers — offering Asher a scholarship.

Of course it didn’t hurt that in addition to Hall, another Bartlesville High graduate, A.J. Archambo, also had starred for ORU from 2017 to 2022.

ORU is looking at Asher for its pitching staff.

“It depends on the day, but my slider is one of my top pitches or my change-up,” said Asher, a right hander.

He’s seen limited pitching innings this summer for Doenges Ford, presumably at least partially to preserve his arm for college ball.

But, he’s still been dynamite — including striking out the side in one inning on just nine pitches, one of the top pitching displays in Doenges Ford history, along with Brian McWilliams's perfect game in an Omaha (Nebraska) tournament game and Denny Clement’s prolific strikeout style.

Asher gives strong credit to his parents for supporting him as the key to his baseball opportunities, including driving him some long distances (to places like Enid) for different showcases.

Pannell also gives kudos to Price for helping prepare Asher and other Bartlesville Bruin players to approach their top potential.

“I think coach Price does a phenomenal job with the guys,” Pannell said. “He works them hard all year … That’s what made him so successful. He creates an awesome culture.”

Oklahoma American Legion State Tournament next stop for Asher, Doenges Ford

In what could be Asher’s final weekend for the Doenges Ford crew — although presumably he could come back next summer and play for the team — the team will travel later this week to Ada for the Oklahoma American Legion State Tournament.

It will be a six-team competition, with the winner advancing to the American Legion Mid-South Regional — probably in Louisiana — and with the regional winner qualifying for a spot in the American Legion World Series (ALWS) in North Carolina.

To put this historical implications of this weekend, Doenges Ford hasn’t won an American Legion state championship in 46 seasons (since 1978) and hasn’t played in a Mid-South regional since 2000, when Bartlesville hosted it. The team’s only appearance in the ALWS was in 1969.

Pannell expressed qualified optimism about his team’s chances to capture the state crown, although Bartlesville didn’t play any of the other five teams in the regular season, due to driving distance.

The field includes teams from Bartlesville, Shawnee, Midwest City, Blanchard and two from Ada (the A’s and the Braves). It is a double-elimination format.

Bartlesville opens play at 1:30 p.m. Thursday against Midwest City. The winner will play at 6 p.m. against the Ada A’s, while the Bartlesville-Midwest City loser plays at 11 a.m. Friday, probably against either Shawnee or Blanchard.

The winner’s bracket final is set for 4:30 p.m. Friday.  The time of the loser’s bracket final and championship game is yet to be determined.

The Indians feature a 20-13-1 record heading into state — the 58th time since 1964 (61 summers) Bartlesville has won at least 20 games.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Bartlesville ace Brenden Asher eyes future with Oral Roberts baseball