Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State Travels To Texas This weekend
April 25, 2002 | Cowboy Baseball
April 25, 2002
No. 16/18 Oklahoma State (29-12, 8-6 Big 12)
vs.
No. 8/9 Texas (34-11, 12-6 Big 12)
Friday, April 26, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 27, 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 28, 1 p.m.
Austin, Texas * Disch-Falk Field (6,649)
What's On Tap
Oklahoma State (29-12, 8-6 Big 12) looks to get back on track in conference play with a pivotal three-game series against Texas in Austin this weekend. The Cowboys and Longhorns will open the series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and then play on Saturday at 2 p.m. The teams will close out the skein on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Longhorns lead the series 8-7 since the Big 12 was formed and have won five out of the last six meetings. including a sweep two years ago in Austin.
On The Mound
The Cowboys will send sophomore righthander Scott Baker (5-0, 2.68 ERA) to the mound on Friday and junior righty Chris Reilly (6-0, 2.53 ERA) on Saturday. Sunday's starter is to be determined.
More on Baker can be found later in the notes. Reilly did not factor in the decision in his last start, a 5-2 loss to Nebraska on April 19. He enters the weekend with a 16-1 career record and 2.65 ERA in 31 appearances, which includes two seasons at Seton Hall (2000-01).
The duo of Reilly and Baker are 27-3 in their careers combined and 11-0 this season.
About Texas
Texas is 34-11 on the year after dropping a midweek contest to Southwest Texas, 2-0, on Tuesday. The Longhorns are atop the Big 12 standings with a 12-6 league mark and have won eight of their last 10 games. They are ranked in the Top 10 of all three major polls.
The middle infield duo of sophomores Omar Quintanilla and Tim Moss lead the Longhorns offensive attack. Quintanilla is hitting at a .380 clip in 24 games while Moss is hitting .374 with 12 doubles, five triples and 28 stolen bases in 45 games. Senior first baseman Jeff Ontiveros, the school's all-time career leader in homers, has 12 round-trippers this season to lead the team.
Junior southpaw Brad Halsley (5-1, 2.45 ERA) will get the start on the hill for UT on Friday while stellar sophomore lefty Justin Simmons (11-0, 2.17 ERA) will get the nod on Saturday. Sunday's starter is to be announced. As a team the Longhorns boast a 2.47 ERA which leads the nation. They have struck out 344 batters in 401.1 innings this year.
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 on April 15. The Shreveport, La., native followed that up with a complete game win over Nebraska (8-4) on April 20. 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.
Brown Back On Track
Senior second baseman Nebasett Brown entered the 2002 season with high expectations following a stellar junior campaign. In 2001, he led the team with a .381 batting average en route to All-Big 12 honors. This season he was named a Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball, but got off to a slow start, hitting as low as .301 as late as March 29. He has turned it up offensively in April, raising his average to .336 after going 9-for-20 in his last seven games with six runs scored. He leads the club with a .368 average in 14 conference games this season and rides a five-game hitting streak into this weekend's contests. Brown has also turned it defensively this season at second with only three errors in 186 chances for a .984 fielding percentage.
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 has shown it over the last six games. Jaramillo is 9-for-18 (.500) with two doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored in that span. He came through with the biggest hit of his career in the Cowboys 8-4 win over Nebraska on April 20. 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 .328 entering this weekend against Texas.
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 19-for-36 (.528) in the last 11 games to raise his overall average to .331. Of the 19 hits, two have been doubles while five have been triples giving him six on the year. That number ties him for first in the Big 12 and is the eighth best performance in a single season at OSU. Salazar also leads the team in stolen bases (20-for-22), runs scored (51) and walks (31).
Southeast Missouri Recap
Southeast Missouri used a pitching combination of starter Brandon Smith and reliever Tim Alvarez to limit Oklahoma State to five hits in a 5-3 win Tuesday afternoon at Reynolds Stadium.
Smith allowed three runs on four hits with five walks and six strikeouts in five innings to move to 7-1 on the year. Alvarez came on in relief in the sixth and blanked the Cowboys on one hit and struck out two in four innings to pick up his first save of the year.
Cowboy starter Mike Miller took the loss to drop to 2-2 on the year. Five different Pokes recorded hits on the afternoon, led by Paul Powell who had a two-run homer in the fourth.
Southeast Missouri scored two runs in the first inning off of Miller to take a 2-0 lead. The Indians added two more runs in the third to make it 4-0. Third baseman Denver Stuckey had a solo homer and catcher Tristen McDonald a RBI single to account for the runs in the stanza.
Second baseman Clemente Bonilla made it 5-0 for SEMO with a RBI double in the fourth that scored Denver Stuckey who had reached earlier on an error.
Oklahoma State started to rally in its half of the fourth when Nebasett Brown walked and Paul Powell followed with a two-run homer to left-center, his 13th homer of the year. The Pokes cut the lead to 5-3 in the fifth when Jeff Salazar roped a triple to right-center and scored on a RBI groundout by Rob Watson.
On Deck: Arkansas-Little Rock
The Cowboys will head home and take on Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday, April 30 at 3 p.m. The Trojans are 16-25 on the year and will take on Murray State in a three game series on the road this weekend. There is a possibility of OSU adding a game for Wednesday, May 1.
The Polls
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 16 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 18 by the ESPN/Baseball Weekly Coaches Poll and No. 21 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association 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
First baseman Ali Modami and second baseman Nebasett Brown were teammates of Texas catcher Ryan Hubele at Chapparal High in Scottsdale, Ariz. ... As a team OSU is hitting .286 vs. lefties and .333 vs. righthanders ... 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 12 players batting .300 or better ... third baseman Paul Powell is second in the Big 12 with 13 homers, including seven in conference games ... 10 different hurlers have recorded wins this year ...12 of the Cowboys remaining 13 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?)
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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 with former Cowboy player Ryan Folmar providing analysis.
