Fri., April 23 / 7 p.m. • Sat., April 24 / 6 p.m. • Sun., April 25 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.
Video/TV: Fri. - ESPNU (Roy Philpott & Chris Burke)
Sat.-Sun. - ESPN+ (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
stillwaterradio.net
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
• OSU returns to Big 12 Conference action this weekend when it hosts No. 3 Texas at O'Brate Stadium. OSU is 23-10-1 on the season, and the Pokes sit fourth in the conference with a 6-6 mark.
• The Cowboys are coming off a 13-5 showing in 2020, a season that was cut short in early March due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
• OSU returns the majority of its 2020 roster in 2021, along with a talented group of newcomers in a recruiting class ranked in the top 25 nationally. Seven position players that started at least 13 games a year ago are back, and the Cowboys' entire starting weekend rotation also returns.
• The 2021 season is OSU's ninth under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 307-168-2 at his alma mater.
About Texas
• Texas is 31-8 on the season and brings a 14-game winning streak to Stillwater. The Longhorns are tied atop the Big 12 standings with TCU at 10-2 in league play.
• The Longhorns are hitting .290 as a team, while their pitching staff owns a Big 12-best 2.82 ERA.
• David Pierce is in his fifth season as UT's head coach and owns a 153-85 career record with the Horns. He also has head coaching stops at Sam Houston State and Tulane and is 350-194 in his career.
• UT's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
Friday: RHP Ty Madden — 5-1 with a 1.54 ERA in nine starts; 65 K, 21 BB in 58.1 IP
Saturday: RHP Tristan Stevens — In nine starts is 6-1 with a 2.77 ERA; 40 K, 8 BB in 55.1 IP
Sunday: RHP Kolby Kubichek — 5-2 with a 2.54 ERA in nine starts; 39 K, 20 BB in 46.0 IP
Cowboys vs. Longhorns
Oklahoma State is 46-62 all time against Texas, including an 18-9 mark under Josh Holliday.
In The Polls
OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first 10 weeks of the season and is currently ranked as high as 19th in this week's USA Today coaches and NCBWA polls. The Cowboys are also ranked 20th by Collegiate Baseball and 24th in the D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game polls.
The Cowboys spent three weeks of the 2020 season in the national polls and peaked at No. 16 in the
Baseball America rankings.
From March 4, 2013 to April 3, 2017, OSU was ranked in at least one national poll, a streak of 77 consecutive weeks. During that time, the Cowboys spent 18 weeks in the Top 10 and were ranked as high as No. 3 (by the NCBWA in 2014). They have finished in the top 10 in the final national polls twice in the last six seasons — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.
High Five
Oklahoma State entered the 2021 season as the fifth-winningest team in NCAA baseball history in terms of winning percentage at .661.
2,657 & Counting
Oklahoma State began the 2021 season 14th on the NCAA's all-time Division I wins list with 2,670. The Cowboys are one of only 25 programs in Division I history to reach 2,600 victories, and of those, only four — Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Florida and Fresno State — have played fewer seasons than OSU's 109.
Building A Winner
In eight seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday has built a sparkling resume. Among the highlights:
• The Cowboys earned seven NCAA Regional berths, advanced to three Super Regionals and played in the College World Series for the first time since Holliday was a senior for the Cowboys in 1999.
• OSU finished first or second in the Big 12 Conference standings five times, claiming the program's first-ever regular season Big 12 title in 2014 and finishing second in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
• The Cowboys finished in the top 10 in the national rankings in 2014 (10th) and 2016 (4th) after ending the 2013 season ranked as high as No. 19. In 2019, they were ranked as high as 11th in the final polls.
• The Pokes have added three Big 12 championships to the program's total. In 2014, OSU won its first-ever Big 12 Conference regular season championship, and the 2017 club captured the second Big 12 Championship title in program history. The Cowboys also claimed the conference tourney title in 2019.
• OSU hosted NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2015 and was the top-seeded team both times. The Cowboys were also awarded a No. 9 national seed and host and top-seed status of the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional in 2019.
• Holliday has coached 62 All-Big 12 performers, seven All-Americans, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees, a Big 12 Player of the Year and a Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
300 Club
Josh Holliday recorded his 300th career win as a head coach when he led his alma mater to a 5-4 win over Bedlam-rival Oklahoma on March 30 in Stillwater.
Holliday is one of four coaches to reach the 300-win milestone with the Cowboys, joining Gary Ward (953), Frank Anderson (329) and Toby Greene (318).
Checking The RPI
OSU comes in at No. 17 in the latest official NCAA RPI, while Texas is No. 12.
Close Calls
OSU is 75-45 in one-run games under Josh Holliday, and 78 of the Cowboys' 168 losses under Holliday have come by two runs or less.
Preseason Picks
OSU was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 standings in a preseason vote of the league's head coaches, who also named three Cowboys to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
The coaches tabbed infielders Max Hewitt and Hueston Morrill as all-conference picks, while Justin Campbell was named to the team as a utility player.
Hewitt finished second in the Big 12 with a .410 batting average in 2020 and had career highs in extra-base hits and RBIs despite the shortened season, while Morrill has started 75 games on the infield over the last two seasons and was an honorable mention All-Big 12 performer as a freshman.
Campbell was a standout on the mound and at the plate as a freshman last season, hitting .414 with a pair of three-RBI games in limited duty, while ranking second on the team with 22 strikeouts as a part of OSU's weekend rotation.
Back On The Bump
Parker Scott is back for a fifth season with the Cowboys, and the southpaw is expected to lead OSU's starting rotation. He is ranked No. 69 on D1Baseball.com's Preseason Power Rankings: Top 150 Starting Pitchers for college baseball in 2021.
Scott struggled with injuries that cost him the majority of his first two seasons in Stillwater but showed what he could do when healthy over the last two seasons.
Scott pitched in six games as a freshman in 2017, starting twice, before an arm injury ended his season. He suffered another setback when he underwent Tommy John Surgery that November that caused him to redshirt in 2018.
After two years between appearances (March 12, 2017-March 10, 2019), Scott made 15 appearances in 2019, eight as a starter, and go 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings. He led the Big 12 in conference-only games with a 1.11 ERA while racking up 31 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings of work.
In four starts in 2020, Scott was 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA and tallied 31 strikeouts in 25 innings.
Scott is 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 49.0 innings in his nine outings this season. His six wins are tied for the Big 12 lead and rank ninth nationally.
Four Sure
Four of the eight starting pitchers OSU has used this season — Parker Scott, Justin Wrobleski, Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell — have combined to go 15-5 with a 3.36 ERA and 196 strikeouts in 166.0 innings.
Both Wrobleski and Campbell have turned in career outings. Campbell struck out 14 in seven shutout innings at Oral Roberts, which came on the heels of a six-inning, 13-strikeout effort at Missouri State, and Wrobleski racked up 13 punchouts and allowed only one hit in seven scoreless frames vs. Grand Canyon.
They're Watching You
Justin Campbell has been named to a pair of national award watch lists in 2021. The Cowboys' two-way standout is one of 45 players on the midseason watch list for USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the top amateur player in the country, and he is also one of 17 players on the College Baseball Foundation's John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Watch List.
Fear The Beard
Brett Standlee has emerged as OSU's top arm out of the bullpen in 2021.
In a team-high 17 relief appearances, the bearded one is 3-1 with three saves and a 2.00 ERA. In 18.0 innings, the right-hander has posted 30 strikeouts and allowed just four earned runs, and he's been part of three of the Cowboys' five shutouts.
Forced to redshirt the 2018 season after being declared academically ineligible, Standlee made his collegiate debut in 2019 and served roles as both a starter and reliever en route to earning a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. He appeared in 19 games, 12 as a starter, and was 3-2 with a save and a 4.26 ERA while ranking second on the team in strikeouts (55) and innings pitched (72 2/3).
In the Big 12 Championship title game, Standlee had a memorable performance as he worked a career-high seven innings and allowed just one run while striking out three against West Virginia to earn the win in OSU's 5-2 victory.
Last season, Standlee was again used as a starter and reliever and went 1-0 with a save, a 1.83 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings over a team-high seven appearances. He earned a win in his start at No. 8 Arizona State, tying career highs in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (8) in OSU's 2-1 victory.
Bombs Away
In less than two full seasons at Yavapai JC, where he played in a wooden bat league, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit 33 home runs in 81 games, and he's continued that power surge in his first season in Stillwater.
Encarnacion-Strand, who has started all 34 games for the Cowboys at third base, has smacked a team-high 14 home runs and also leads the Pokes with 49 RBIs. He ranks third nationally in RBIs and is fourth in homers, and he is sixth in the NCAA this season with an .813 slugging percentage.
With Encarnacion-Strand leading the way, the Cowboys have tallied 48 home runs to rank 12th in the NCAA this season, and 11 different players have gone deep. Nolan McLean and Brock Mathis rank second on OSU with seven round trippers.
Mound Menaces
• OSU's six shutouts this season rank third in the NCAA behind Louisiana Tech and Gonzaga's seven.
• OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 and 13th nationally with 364 strikeouts, and their 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings leads the conference and is 13th in the NCAA. The Pokes have racked up 364 strikeouts in 296.2 innings.
• Justin Campbell ranks third in the Big 12 with a 2.00 ERA, while Parker Scott is fifth at 2.20.
• Campbell recorded a streak of 28 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run that stretched from the fourth inning of his first start vs. LR on Feb. 24 to the sixth inning of his start vs. WVU on April 2.
• Campbell posted a career-high 14 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings against Oral Roberts on March 9. The 14 strikeouts were just two shy of the OSU single-game record held by Derek Brandow.
• In that game against the Golden Eagles, Campbell teamed with Mitchell Stone, Kale Davis and Brett Standlee to strike out 19 batters. The 19 strikeouts are one shy of the OSU and Big 12 record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game; the Cowboys punched out 20 against Alabama A&M on March 23, 2010. The program record for strikeouts in a game is 21, which came in a 15-inning contest against Texas in 2011. The Link Lonk
April 22, 2021 at 11:56PM
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