Baseball Looks To Extend Winning Streak

March 17, 2000

Setting The Scene:
Oklahoma State, in the midst of a six-game homestand, looks to extend its five-game win streak when the Cowboys host Kansas in a three-game series beginning Friday at 3 p.m. Game two is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday while the series finale is Sunday at 1 p.m. The contests will air on the Cowboy Baseball Radio Network (780 AM) with Rex Holt (play-by-play) and former OSU standout Ryan Folmar (analyst) calling the action.

About Kansas:
The Jayhawks are 14-8 overall after splitting a doubleheader with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last Tuesday. Kansas won the first game 8-0 before falling in the nightcap to the Islanders 3-2. KU upset Texas 8-7 last Friday before the No. 4-ranked Longhorns took the next two games of the series to drop the Jayhawks to 3-3 in conference play.

Third baseman Ryan Klocksien leads the squad with a .380 batting average to go along with a homer and 20 RBIs. First baseman Shane Wedd is the team's power source with three homers and 20 RBIs.

The Jayhawks rotation for the weekend will be righthanders Rusty Philbrick (1-2, 4.37 ERA) and Jeff Davis (3-1, 5.40 ERA) on Friday and Saturday and southpaw Pete Smart (4-3, 2.79 ERA) on Sunday. Kansas head coach Bobby Randall is in his fifth year as the pilot of the Jayhawks program and has posted a 107-132 record during that span.

The Series:
Oklahoma State holds a 111-41 series lead over Kansas including a three-game sweep last year in Lawrence. The Cowboys have won seven of the nine meetings in Big 12 play and they have won the season series from the Jayhawks the last six years. Kansas last captured the season matchup in 1993 going 5-3 against OSU, the same year the Jayhawks went to the College World Series.

1999 Results

April 16  Oklahoma State 16, Kansas 10
April 17  Oklahoma State 12, Kansas 10
April 18  Oklahoma State 6, Kansas 1

On The Hill:
Oklahoma State's rotation for the weekend will be junior lefthander Matt Smith on Friday, senior righthander Frank Bludau on Saturday and junior southpaw Josh Merrigan on Sunday. Smith will be making his first live game action in nearly two weeks on Friday. In his last outing he took the loss in Nebraska's 13-10 win on Mar. 3. Merrigan won Tuesday's game against Western Illinois to improve to a team best 4-1. Bludau pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the same game to shake off rust due to the Pokes inactivity from last weekend.

Day	No.	Name	G/GS	Season Stats
Fri.	36	Matt Smith (L)	5/5	2-2, 5.47 ERA, 27 SO, 26.1 IP
Sat.	16	Frank Bludau (R)	6/4	2-2, 4.05 ERA, 13 SO, 20.0 IP
Sun.	32	Josh Merrigan (L)	6/6	4-1, 3.21 ERA, 17 SO, 28.0 IP

Recapping Western Illinois:
Oklahoma State swept Western Illinois by a combined 28-5 score in two games earlier this week. The Pokes defeated the Leathernecks 12-1 Tuesday behind the pitching of Josh Merrigan (6.0 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs) and the hitting of Nebasett Brown (3-for-4). OSU completed the sweep with a 16-4 win Wednesday to extend its win streak to five games. Brown again led the Pokes with a 3-for-4 performance and Ryan Budde belted his third homer of the year, a three-run shot, as OSU handed the Leathernecks their 12th straight loss.

Head Coach Tom Holliday:
Oklahoma State head coach Tom Holliday is in his fourth year as the pilot of the Cowboys program. Holliday's record of 144-68 is tops among the Cowboys' all-time coaches records after three seasons. Last season Holliday led the Cowboys to the school's 19th College World Series appearance. OSU finished with a 46-21 mark and its 19th consecutive NCAA regional showing. Holliday served as an assistant at Oklahoma State from 1977-96.

Watson and Brown Deliver:
The duo of Nebasett Brown and Rob Watson are providing the Cowboys with offense from the infield positions, an area that had been lacking for parts of the season early on. Watson is making a strong statement for a full time starting position in the infield after belting three homers in the last two games. He currently leads the team with five homers and has done so in only 30 at-bats. Brown survived a hitting slump which included an 0-for-13 stretch and is now batting .375 including a 6-for-8 performance against Western Illinois. He leads the team with four triples and 24 hits and is a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases.

Cowboys Corral:
Cowboy pitchers lowered the team ERA to 4.92 by giving up just 11 runs over the last five games (2.20 ERA) ... Frank Bludau is 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in Big 12 contests ... Six Cowboy regulars are now hitting over .300 with Jimbo McAuliff leading the way with a .405 clip ... Three of Michael Lorsbach's five hits this season have been doubles ... Ront? Langs missed the Western Illinois series with a bad back, he should be ready to play this weekend.

OSU's five game win streak is the longest of the season ... The Pokes haven't played a Friday game since Feb. 18 against Kansas State in San Diego (includes the first three conference series) ... The Cowboys 19-run inning against Grambling on Feb.11 was two runs shy of the NCAA record of 21 runs scored in an inning by Wichita State against Friends in 1984 ... Toby Rhodes' 3-for-3 performance against Grambling (2/11) tied the NCAA mark for hits in an inning set by many players ... OSU is 8-0 when it scores in double-digits, 4-7 when it does not. After the Arkansas game on Tuesday the Pokes enter a stretch of eight of 11 games on the road.

The Rankings:
The Cowboys are unranked in the three polls this week.

Cowboys Week-By-Week in the Polls

	Collegiate Baseball	ESPN/ Baseball	Weekly Baseball America
Jan. 1	23*	25*	NR
Feb. 7	23*	25*	NR
Feb. 14	NR	NR	NR
Feb. 21	24	NR	NR
Feb. 28	27	NR	NR
Mar. 6	NR	NR	NR
Mar. 13	NR	NR	NR

*- Preseason Poll

Time Changes:
Oklahoma State baseball announced it has three game time changes to its April schedule including key games of interest against Oklahoma and Oral Roberts.

New Game Times (All Times Central)

April 4	Tuesday	at Oral Roberts (Drillers Stadium)	7:05 p.m.
April 7	Friday	at Kansas State	2 p.m.
April 22	Saturday	vs. Oklahoma (SWB Bricktown Ballpark)	3 p.m.

Not Your Same Old Cowboys:
Entering the season the coaching staff knew this team would be different compared to the Oklahoma State baseball teams of old. This year's team was described as an athletic squad that would have to manufacture runs instead of the usual homer barrage of OSU teams of old. After the first 19 games of the season the stats have proven these predictions to be correct. Last season OSU was an identical 12-7 at this time and had a team batting average of .339, 45 homers, 226 RBIs and 245 runs scored. It has been a different story in 2000 as the Pokes are batting at a .305 clip with 23 homers, 154 RBIs and 180 runs scored. At the same time the Cowboy defense has been solid this season committing 29 errors for a .960 fielding percentage compared to 37 errors and a .946 fielding percentage last season. Oklahoma State still scores runs as usual with three straight games of 10 or more runs heading into this weekend.

Who's Next:
After the Kansas series, Oklahoma State will host Arkansas Tues., Mar. 21, at 6 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two schools in two years and first in Stillwater since the 1995 season. The Cowboys own a 39-15 series lead over the Razorbacks and have won the last four meetings between the schools.

OSU Probable Starting Lineup

Pos.	No.	Name	G/GS	Season Stats
C	6	Ryan Budde	18/16	.323, 3 HRs, 19 RBIs
1B	24	Luke Scott	19/15	.347, 4 HRs, 20 RBIs
2B	5	Rob Watson	13/8	.400, 5 HRs, 11 RBIs
SS	11	Curt Anthony	19/19	.211, 4 HRs, 16 RBIs
3B	13	Nebasett Brown	18/16	.375, 4 3Bs, 12 RBIs
CF	17	Jimbo McAuliff	18/13	.405, 10 RBIs, 5 SBs
LF	1	Carlos Gautreaux	17/15	.377, 7 2Bs, 7 RBIs
RF	19	Michael Lorsbach	13/8	.192, 3 2Bs, 5 RBIs
DH	9	Roy York	18/15	.333, 1 HR, 15 RBIs

Cowboys Among Conference Leaders:
Oklahoma State was ranked in several categories in the latest Big 12 statistical report released on Feb. 22. The Cowboys were ranked second in team batting average (.322) behind Texas Tech (.348) and second in runs scored (94) and homers (10) behind the Red Raiders (116, 11). Individual Cowboys among the league leaders are listed below:

Season Streaks:

The Cowboys enter the 2000 season with two long-standing streaks to build on. Oklahoma State is looking to win 40 games for the 21st straight season and is also looking to make the NCAA tournament for the 20th straight year.

Preseason Predictions:
According to Baseball America, Oklahoma State is predicted to finish fourth in the Big 12 conference behind Baylor, Texas and Texas A&M. The Cowboys were also one of five teams picked by the publication to make it to the NCAA tournament along with the Bears, Longhorns, Aggies and Texas Tech.

Sophomore catcher Ryan Budde and pitcher Matt Smith were named to the preseason All-Big 12 team in Baseball America and the Dallas Morning News while Smith also garnered pitcher of the year plaudits in both publications.

Smith is also a preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America and is considered one of the top professional prospects to watch in 2000.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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