Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Hosts Southeast Missouri On Tuesday.
April 22, 2002 | Cowboy Baseball
April 22, 2002
No. 16/18 Oklahoma State (29-11, 8-6 Big 12)
vs.
Southeast Missouri (18-14, 7-2 Ohio Valley)
Tuesday, April 23, 3 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. * Reynolds Stadium (4,000)
What's On Tap
Oklahoma State winds up its string of 10 of 11 games at home with a contest against Southeast Missouri at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The Pokes will look to rebound from a tough weekend series against Nebraska, in which the Huskers won two of three.
On The Mound
The Cowboys starter for Tuesday's contest is still to be determined.
About Southeast Missouri
Southeast Missouri is 18-14 on the year after defeating Lipscomb 3-1 in a rain-shortened game at home over the weekend. The Indians are 7-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play and are coming off a second-place showing in the league in 2001.
Junior catcher Tristen McDonald leads the team offensively with a .360 batting average in 32 games played this season. As a team Southeast Missouri is batting .291 and averages 6.7 runs a game.
The Indians will throw either righthander Brandon Smith or southpaw Tim Alvarez against the Cowboys on Tuesday. Smith is 6-1 on the year with a 4.06 ERA in 10 games this season while Alvarez is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in five appearances. As a team, SEMO sports a 5.17 ERA with 223 strikeouts in 269.2 innings pitched.
Baker Shines On The Hill
Sophomore Scott Baker's two complete-game performances last week showed that he was back to the form that made him a Freshman All-American in 2001. Baker opened the week with a three-hit complete game shutout of Oral Roberts last Monday. The Shreveport, La., native followed that up with a complete game win over Nebraska (8-4) on Saturday. He became the first Cowboy since assistant coach Jason Bell in 1994 to record back-to-back complete games. On the week Baker sported a 1.50 ERA with three earned runs in 18.0 innings pitched. He is now 5-0 on the year with a 2.68 ERA in eight starts.
Jaramillo Catching On
Freshman catcher Jason Jaramillo entered the season as one of a trio of solid catchers the Cowboys expected to split time behind the plate in 2002. The coaching staff was high on the potential of the switch-hitter from Franksville, Wisc., and he showed it in five games last week. Jaramillo went 8-for-16 (.500) with two doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored and came through with the biggest hit of his career to date in the Cowboys 8-4 win over Nebraska on Saturday. With the Pokes trailing 3-2 in the sixth and the bases loaded, the freshman hit a double down the left field line that cleared the bases and put OSU ahead 5-3. He raised his overall average from .265 at the start of the week to .323 entering Tuesday's game against Southeast Missouri.
Salazar Sizzling At The Plate
After going 0-for-3 against Baylor on April 6, centerfielder Jeff Salazar's batting average was at a season low .269. Since that time, the junior from Bethany has gone on a tear at the plate going 18-for-32 (.563) in the last 10 games to raise his overall average to .333. Of the 18 hits, two have been doubles while four have been triples giving him five on the year. That number ties him for first in the Big 12 while it is the 11th best performance in a single season at OSU. Salazar also leads the team in stolen bases (20-for-22), runs scored (50) and walks (31).
Monette Paints Pretty Picture
Rightfielder Daylon Monette has been one of the most consistent performers offensively for the Cowboys this season. The junior from Fontana, Calif., currently leads the team with a .394 batting average, which is second in the Big 12 behind Kansas State's Pat Maloney who has a .410 average.
He went 8-for-21 at the plate in six games last week, but had his 17-game hitting streak snapped against Nebraska on Saturday.
He is currently second in the Big 12 with a .485 on-base percentage and leads the Pokes with 18 multi-hit games this year. Monette is also tied for the team lead in multiple RBI contests with 10 on the season.
On Deck: Big 12 Leaders Texas
Oklahoma State will kick-off a stretch of two consecutive conference road series starting with Texas in Austin this weekend. The Cowboys and Longhorns will hook-up at 6:30 p.m. Friday night in the series opener. The teams will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. before closing out the three-game set on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Longhorns are 34-10 on the year after sweeping Kansas State last weekend and have won eight of their last nine ballgames. UT will play Southwest Texas on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before preparing for OSU.
The Polls
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 16 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 18 by the ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches Poll this week. The Cowboys dropped out of Baseball America's poll after losing two of three against Nebraska over the weekend. OSU is one of five teams ranked in the Top 30 this week with Texas getting the highest recognition at No. 8 in Collegiate Baseball and ESPN/Baseball Weekly.
Cowboy Notes
The Cowboys went 4-2 last week and batted .322 as a team with a ERA of 3.33 ... OSU is averaging 9.8 runs per game which is in the top 10 in the country ... The Pokes are 67-of-74 in stolen bases this season, second to Texas in the Big 12 ...Oklahoma State has six starters with 30 or more RBIs and 13 players batting .300 or better ... third baseman Paul Powell is second in the Big 12 with 12 homers, including seven in conference games ... 10 different hurlers have recorded wins this year ...10 of the Cowboys remaining 14 games on the schedule are against teams with winning records ... Nebasett Brown, with 14 career triples, is one away from tying Randy Whisler for third on the all-time list ... Rob Watson has been hit by 10 pitches this season which is fifth on the OSU career list ... The Cowboys are two games short of the NCAA maximum of 56 games, meaning the team will be looking for two makeup games sometime in the future ... Over the last 15 years Oklahoma State has made the College World Series every third year dating back to 1987 (87, 90, 93, 96, 99, 02?).
Ali Modami's Baseball Diaries
Senior first baseman Ali Modami is keeping a running journal throughout the 2002 season. The diary will be published on Oklahoma State's official website: www.okstate.com usually every Thursday and Monday throughout the year, Ali's schedule permitting. The most recent journal entry has Ali discussing the weekend against Nebraska and the upcoming series against Texas.
Cowboys On The Air
Every game for the rest of the 2002 Oklahoma State baseball season will be broadcast on Stillwater Radio 93.7 KSPI.
In addition, fans outside of the Stillwater area can listen to the games on the internet by going to Oklahoma State's official athletic website: www.okstate.com. Calling the action in his 20th year with Oklahoma State baseball is Rex Holt, of the famous Oklahoma Holts. He will be joined once again this year by former Cowboy player Ryan Folmar who welcomed a new addition to his family, son Kade, who was born on Jan. 4.
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