Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Pirates & Bears On Weekend
March 15, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball
Game Notes
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Oklahoma State (8-7) vs. Seton Hall (6-8)/Missouri State* (10-5)
Fri., March 16/6:30 p.m. • Sat., March 17*/6 p.m. • Sun., March 18/Noon
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
  Video/TV: okstate.com/live (OSUAthletics YouTube) (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
  Radio: pete 94.3 FM/KSPI 93.7 FM/okstate.com/watch (Bill Van Ness & Matt Davis)
  Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/okstate/baseball
 Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
    • The Cowboys are 8-7 on the season and look to snap a three-game losing streak this weekend at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium with games against Seton Hall (Friday and Sunday) and Missouri State (Saturday).
    • OSU is coming off a 2017 season in which it made its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and posted 30-27 record. The Cowboys went 8-14 in conference play a year ago to finish eighth in the standings but made history when they became the first-ever team to win the Big 12 Championship title as a No. 8 seed; OSU swept through the tourney field with a 4-0 mark.
    • The Cowboys return six position players who started at least 30 games last season, while nine pitchers who combined for 16 wins return to the staff.
    • The 2018 season marks OSU's sixth under head coach Josh Holliday, who owns a 208-113 record at his alma mater.
About Seton Hall
    • Seton Hall is 6-8 and coming off a midweek win over Saint Peter's that snapped a three-game losing streak.
    • Led by junior Sebastiano Santorelli (.373, HR, 11 RBI) and sophomore Matt Toke (.350, 2 HR, 12 RBI), the Pirates own a .253 team batting average and are averaging five runs per game.
    • SHU's pitching staff sports a collective 5.25 ERA and has recorded 122 strikeouts in 118.1 innings.
    • Rob Sheppard is in his 14th season as Seton Hall's head coach and owns a 393-366-2 career record. He took over head coaching duties from his father in 2004; Mike Sheppard, Jr. won 998 games in 31 seasons leading the Pirates.
    • Seton Hall's list of baseball alumni includes the likes of Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio as well as big leaguers Mo Vaughn, Matt Morris, Jason Grilli and John Valentin.
    • Right-hander Shane McCarthy is expected to start on the mound for Seton Hall on Friday. The senior is 0-3 with a 6.88 ERA in four starts and has 10 strikeouts and seven walks in 17.0 innings pitched.
Cowboys vs. Pirates
    Oklahoma State is 1-1 all time against Seton Hall. The two teams previously met in a two-game series in Stillwater in 2000, with the Cowboys winning the first game, 8-6, and dropping the second, 9-3.
About Missouri State
    • Missouri State is 10-5 on the season and brings a three-game winning streak to Stillwater.
    • The Bears are averaging 5.9 runs per game and hitting .244 as a team, led by Drew Millas (.365, HR, 19 RBIs) and All-American shortstop Jeremy Eierman (.305, 2 HR, 8 RBI).
    • MSU's pitching staff sports a collective 3.51 ERA and has recorded 135 strikeouts in 133 1/3 innings.
    • Keith Guttin is in his 36th season as Missouri State's head coach and owns a record of 1,229-764. Guttin has led the Bears to 10 NCAA Regional appearances and the 2003 College World Series.
Cowboys vs. Bears
    Oklahoma State is 14-7 in the all-time series against Missouri State, including an 8-1 mark under Josh Holliday. Six of the last nine meetings have been decided by two runs or less, three of those in extra innings.
    Last 9 Meetings
    2018 - OSU 10, MSU 8 (Springfield)
    2017 - OSU 7, MSU 3 (Stillwater); MSU 6, OSU 5 (NCAA Fayetteville Regional)
    2016 - OSU 6, MSU 5 (10 inn. - Springfield)
    2015 - OSU 7, MSU 2 (Stillwater)  Â
    2014 - OSU 6, MSU 0 (Springfield); OSU 3, MSU 2 (11 inn. - Stillwater)     Â
    2013 - OSU 5, MSU 4, (10 inn. - Stillwater); OSU 6, MSU 4 (Springfield)
Home Sweet Home
    Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since April 4, 1981, and in those 37 seasons, the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.Â
    OSU is 918-232 (.798) all time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on its home turf only nine times (six in a row in 2007; five straight in 2017; four in a row in 2016; three straight in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018).
    The Cowboys are 4-4 on their home field in 2018.
Building A Winner
    In the first five seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday built quite an impressive resume. Among the highlights:
    • The Cowboys have earned five NCAA Regional berths, advanced to two 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 each season from 2013-16.
    • 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 2015, they were ranked as high as 17th in the final polls
    • 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.
    • OSU hosted NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2015 and was the top-seeded team both times.
    • Holliday has coached 42 All-Big 12 performers, six All-Americans, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees and a Big 12 Player of the Year.
Tank Smash
    Colin Simpson, aka "Tank", enjoyed a breakout sophomore season for the Cowboys in 2017. The catcher/DH collected honorable mention All-Big 12 honors and led OSU with 11 home runs while ranking third in RBIs (40) and slugging percentage (.492).
    Simpson did the majority of his damage against Big 12 competition as in 22 conference games he hit .272 with seven homers and 23 RBIs — no other Cowboy had more than two homers or 19 RBIs in league play. During one stretch, Simpson went deep in four-straight Big 12 contests, including smacking two homers vs. West Virginia on April 2.
    Simpson was named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team after hitting .368 (7-for-19) with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs in four tourney games.
    Off to a strong start in 2018, Simpson is hitting a team-high .333 and also leads OSU in hits (20), doubles (7), homers (4), RBIs (16), total bases (39) and slugging percentage (.650). He has started all 15 games for the Cowboys — 10 at catcher, three as DH and two in left field.
Outfield Veteran
    A constant in Josh Holliday's lineup card over the last three seasons has been outfielder Jon Littell. The senior is by far the Cowboys' most experienced player, having appeared in 150 games, and his 138 starts is 60 more than the next closest player on the OSU roster.
    Littell has experience at both corner outfield spots as he's started 89 games in left field and 49 in right field in his career.Â
    At the plate, Littell caught fire in OSU's 2017 run to the College World Series as he was OSU's second-leading hitter in the NCAA tourney with a .379 batting average (11-for-29) in nine games. He carried that into 2017, where he was hitting over .300 with three homers and 21 RBIs before suffering injuries in an outfield collision at TCU on March 26 and missing nine games; the injuries lingered throughout the remainder of the season.
    Littell showed a penchant for clutch hitting in 2017 as he hit .306 (15-for-49) with runners in scoring position while 16 of his 28 RBIs came with two outs.
Teel Time
    Carson Teel joined the OSU program as a walk-on in 2015 and spent that season redshirting for his hometown team. Since then, Teel has flourished into a scholarship player with a significant role in the Cowboys' pitching rotation.
    In 2017, the southpaw led OSU with 28 appearances, 25 of those in relief, and topped the Pokes with a 3.06 ERA and three saves while ranking second on the pitching staff in wins (5) and strikeouts (77).
    In OSU's run to the Big 12 Championship title, Teel appeared in all four games, striking out 10 and allowing only one run in 8.1 innings out of the bullpen.
    Teel was a 27th-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in last June's MLB Draft but put a professional career on hold to return for his junior season.Â
    In eight appearances this season, Teel has matched his save output of a year ago with three, a total that is tied for third in the Big 12, and he earned his first win of the season with a career-high 7 1/3 innings of work against Arizona State. He ranks second in the league in ERA (1.45) and opponent batting average (.175) and is tied for seventh in strikeouts with 25.
New Faces
    OSU's active roster includes 17 newcomers — nine from the junior college ranks along with eight high school recruits.
    Over the first month of the season, 13 Cowboy newcomers have made their OSU debut; seven of those have seen their names in the starting lineup.
    Of the Cowboys' nine JUCO signees, four of those started their collegiate careers at the Division I level — Matt Kroon (Oregon), Reza Aleaziz (Oregon State), Jacob Ruder (Kansas State) and Ryan Van Leeuwen (UT Arlington).
Shining In Stillwater
    In his third season at the collegiate level, Matt Kroon is showcasing the skills that have made him a two-time Major League Baseball Draft pick.
    OSU's starting third baseman in all 11 games this season, Kroon arrived in Stillwater following stints at Oregon and Central Arizona CC, and he has been among the Cowboys' most consistent hitters through the first two weeks of 2018.
    Kroon owns a .283 batting average and is among the team leaders in hits (15), RBIs (11), slugging percentage (.453) and on-base percentage (.424).
    The Arizona native has four multi-hit games, and he has reached base safely in 13-straight games.
    Kroon's father, Marc, pitched four seasons in the big leagues for the Padres, Reds and Rockies.
Mr. VersatilityÂ
    Andrew Rosa is in his fifth season at OSU and looks poised to make his final collegiate season his best yet.
    Rosa's ability to play multiple positions makes him a valuable part of the lineup. He's played in nearly 120 career games, 70 of those as a starter, and he has been in the starting lineup as a first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder and DH.
    Listed as an infielder, Rosa's first three starts of 2018 came at second base, but he was inserted as a starter in center field — a position he had never previously played for the Cowboys — during the two midweek contests against Little Rock. He has started six games at second base and six in center field this season while batting either leadoff or second in the order.
    Rosa is hitting .318 on the season to go along with a .545 slugging percentage, and his .467 on-base percentage ranks leads the team. He also ranks seventh nationally in hit by pitches with eight.
Friday Night Lights
    Jonathan Heasley has emerged as OSU's Friday night starter as a sophomore.
    An MLB Draft eligible right-hander, Heasley won his first two starts of the season and posted a 2.31 ERA over 11 2/3 innings. He equaled his career high with six strikeouts in the season opener at Texas State and bested that with nine punchouts in week two vs. Marist; he threw 106 pitches in both outings.
    Heasley has posted at least six strikeouts in each of his four starts this season, and his 28 strikeouts are tied for third most in the Big 12.
    As a freshman last season, Heasley made 22 appearances, five as a starter, and went 2-4 with a 3.55 ERA while tying for the team lead with three saves.Â
