Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Gear Up for Conference Play
June 21, 1999 | Cowboy Baseball
February 25, 1999
Setting The Scene: Oklahoma State opens conference play on the road this weekend in a pivotal matchup against Texas A&M. The Cowboys look to continue their scoring barrage against the Aggies today at 3 p.m. The contest will air on the Cowboy Baseball Radio Network (flagship KSPI in Stillwater) with Rex Holt (play-by-play) and Robert Allen (analyst) calling the action.
About Texas A&M: Texas A&M is 9-2 on the season after defeating Sam Houston State, 7-3, on Tuesday.
The Aggies are led offensively by infielders John Scheschuk, Sean Heaney and outfielder Daylan Holt. Scheschuk leads the Aggies with a .474 batting average to go along with two homers and eight RBIs. Heaney is batting .438 with two dingers and 13 RBIs while Holt is hitting at a .426 clip with a team leading seven home runs and 25 RBIs. The Aggie pitching staff is led by righthander Chance Caple and lefty Casey Fossum. Caple who will start on Saturday leads the team with a 1.74 ERA and is 2-1 on the season. Fossum, today's starter, is also 2-1 on the year with 25 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched and has a 5.29 ERA.
The Series: Oklahoma State leads the series 13-6 and took two of three last season against the Aggies.
The Cowboys have won five of the last seven meetings dating back to the 1997 season.
1998 Results (in Stillwater): March 13 Texas A&M 8, Oklahoma State 0 March 14 Oklahoma State 9, Texas A&M 6 March 14 Oklahoma State 9, Texas A&M 2
On The Mound: Pitching today for the Cowboys will be sophomore lefthander Matt Smith. Smith is 3-0 on the season with a 0.69 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 13 innings pitched. In his last outing against San Diego State on Feb. 20, he pitched six shutout innings and struck out 10 before leaving the game with an 11-0 lead.
The Coaches: Oklahoma State head coach Tom Holliday is now in his third year as the pilot of the Cowboys program. Holliday moved past the legendary Henry P. Iba into fourth place on the Cowboys coaching list with OSU's 12-2 win over San Diego State on Feb. 20. Holliday's record of 94-41 is tops among the Cowboys' all-time coaches records after two seasons. Holliday previously served as an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1977-96. Texas A&M head coach Mark Johnson is in his 15th year with the Aggies and has posted a 625-263-2 ledger in that span. Johnson has led the Aggies to four conference championships and 10 NCAA regional appearances.
The Rankings: Both Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are ranked in all three polls this week. The Aggies are ranked as high No. 8 in Baseball Americawhile the Cowboys highest ranking is No. 13 in Collegiate Baseball. The Pokes jumped 10 spots last week in Baseball America to No. 16 after going unranked the week before. Texas A&M is also ranked No. 11 in the ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches Poll and No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 21 in the ESPN/BW poll.
The Last Time Out: No. 13 Oklahoma State (8-1) hit a school and Big 12 record 11 home runs and bombarded Chicago State (0-2), 36-2, Wednesday afternoon in Stillwater.
Senior Josh Holliday keyed the OSU attack going three-for-five at the plate with two homers and five RBIs. Shortstop Billy Gasparino continued his torrid start to the season with a four-for-four performance with two homers and six RBIs in the contest. He now has eight home runs in nine games. Leftfielder Chris Becerra also hit two homers and went two-for-two with three RBIs. Trevor Leu, Lamont Matthews, Mike Lorsbach and Jay McCullough also hit homeruns.
The Cowboys broke or tied three school records and three Big 12 marks in the contests.
The 36 runs scored broke the Big 12 record of 29 set by Missouri in 1997 and was one shy of the school mark of 37 set against Nebraska on April 8, 1995.
The Cowboys also tied the Big 12 record in hit by pitches as five Pokes were hit in the game.
Oklahoma State tied the school record for hits in a game with 29 set against Arkansas on April 5, 1948, and the 11 dingers broke the previous school record of nine set against Kansas State on March 9, 1997. In addition, freshman Ryan Budde tied the school record for plate appearances with seven in the game and had five hits and four runs in those at-bats.
Sophomore Will Rosellini (1-0) picked up the win with three scoreless innings of work in a starting role. The game was called in the eighth inning due to Chicago State's travel constraints.
News and Notes: The Cowboys 11 homers against Chicago State on Wednesday was two off the NCAA record of 13 set by Cal State Northridge in 1996 ...the Pokes are 5-0 at home and are averaging 24 runs a contest ... OSU has scored in double digits in six of the nine contests this season (four games have been over 20) ...
Chris Becerra has hit safely in all nine games this season ... Pitcher Jason Howard, who also plays defensive back on the Cowboy football team, made his first appearance in a baseball uniform on Tuesday as a pinch runner ... Josh Holliday moved ahead of Peter Prodanov into seventh place in the record books in career total bases with 393.
Oklahoma State-Pitching and Defense?: Oklahoma State baseball has always been known as a team with a plethora of heavy hitters. Over the past twenty years the Pokes have boasted such hitters as Pete Incaviglia, Robin Ventura, Jeromy Burnitz and Monty Fariss. In 1999, the Cowboys boast a team with talent-laden pitching, a change from the previous "bomb" squads. The team boasts a 2.14 team ERA and has recorded 95 strikeouts in 80 innings. Over the past three seasons under pitching coach John Farrell the Pokes have lowered the team ERA from 5.92 in 1997 to 4.85 in 1998 to 2.14 in 1999.
Sunny Days in San Diego: Oklahoma State started out slowly but finished up strong at the San Diego Classic last weekend. Oklahoma State came into the tourney averaging 19.7 runs per game but was blanked by Oregon State, 1-0, last Thursday. The Cowboys offense came back to life the following day as OSU defeated tournament host San Diego State 12-2 on Friday night. Oklahoma State then faced a tough Loyola-Marymount squad which had previously handed No. 7 Arizona its second loss of the season by a convincing 15-3 count. The Cowboys faced the Lions ace hurler, Michael Schultz, a pre-season All-American and defeated LMU 6-2. In OSU's tournament finale, the Cowboys rallied from a 4-3 fifth inning deficit to beat Arizona 7-4. Oklahoma State tied Big 12 foe Texas Tech for the best record at the tourney with a 3-1 ledger.
Hurlin' Herrmann: Freshman hurler Ryan Herrmann is proving to be a force for the Oklahoma State pitching staff after just three appearances. The Chandler, Okla. product picked up his first collegiate win against Arizona last Sunday, pitching four an a third innings of one-hit shutout ball. Herrmann has made three appearances out of the bullpen and has not allowed a run while striking out six in 6.1 innings.
What's Next: After today's ballgame the Cowboys will play A&M again tommorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. Oklahoma State will start junior righty Thom Dreier (1-0, 0.00 ERA while the Aggies will counter with junior righty Chance Caple (2-1, 1.74 ERA).
The Injury Report: Reserve infielder/outfielder Carl-s Gautreaux reinjured his hamstring against Chicago State on Tuesday and is not on the trip ... reserve outfielder Matt Mabrey returned to action against Chicago State on Tuesday after missing five games due to an ankle injury ... pitcher Jeremy Krismer and first baseman/outfielder Jay McCullough were both hit in Wednesday's game and suffered bruises, both will be able to play.
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