Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Heads To North Carolina
March 13, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
March 13, 2003
North Carolina Notes in PDF Format
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Oklahoma State (10-5)
vs. North Carolina State, Princeton, Old Dominion, Duke,
No. 14/15/17 Wake Forest
March 14-18 * North Carolina Trip
Durham Bulls Athletic Park (10,000) * Durham, N.C.
Jack Coombs Field (2,000) * Durham, N.C. (Duke)
Hooks Stadium (2,500) * Winston-Salem, N.C. (W.F)
The Matchups:
vs. North Carolina State (14-4) * Friday, March 14 at 2 p.m. CT
OSU leads series 4-2; won 4-1 in last meeting on April 21, 1999.
vs. Princeton (0-4) * Saturday, March 15 at 2 p.m. CT
OSU leads series 3-0; won 10-1 in last meeting on March 11, 2001.
vs. Old Dominion (5-10) * Sunday, March 16 at 2 p.m. CT
First ever meeting.
at Duke (11-8) * Monday, March 17 at 2 p.m. CT
OSU leads 1-0; won 3-2 on June 9, 1961.
at Wake Forest (10-5) *? Tuesday, March 18 at 2 p.m. CT
Wake leads 1-0; won 2-0 on June 15, 1955.
In The Polls
Oklahoma State, North Carolina State, Princeton, Old Dominion and Duke are unranked.Wake Forest is ranked No. 14 by Baseball America, No. 15 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 17 by SportsWeekly/ESPN.
The Coaches:
OSU's Tom Holliday is 257-131 in his seventh season in Stillwater.
NC State's Elliott Avent is 230-155 in his seventh season in Raleigh.
Princeton's Scott Bradley is 119-106 in his fifth season in Princeton.
Old Dominion's Tony Guzzo is 261-201 in his 10th season in Norfolk.
Duke's Bill Hillier is 75-116 in his fourth season in Durham.
Wake's George Greer is 572-330-4 in his 16th season in Winston-Salem.
Radio:
March 14/KSPI 780 AM
March 15/KSPI 780 AM
March 16/KSPI 93.7 FM
March 17/KSPI 93.7 FM
March 18/KSPI 93.7 FM
Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 21st season.
What's On Tap
Oklahoma State completes its season starting marathon road stretch with a five-game swing in North Carolina during the Spring Break. The Cowboys open the trip against North Carolina State on Friday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. OSU will play Princeton and Old Dominion at the same locale on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The Pokes will take on Duke at its home facility, Jack Coombs Field, on Monday before closing out the swing against Wake Forest on Tuesday in Winston-Salem. All five contests are 2 p.m. CT starts.
About North Carolina State
North Carolina State is 14-4 on the year after dispatching The Citadel and VMI on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Wolfpack are coming off a 33-26 campaign in 2002 and a seventh place finish in the ACC.
Sophomore outfielder Marc Maynor leads the team with a .362 batting average while junior outfielder Joe Gaetti, son of former major leaguer Gary Gaetti, is the club's power source with seven homers, five doubles, three triples and 25 RBIs in 18 games.
Freshman righthander Michael Rogers leads the pitching staff with a 4-1 record and 1.75 ERA in five starts this season. As a team, NC State sports a 4.42 ERA with 170 strikeouts in 159 innings pitched.
About Princeton
Princeton is 0-4 on the year after getting swept by Richmond over the weekend. The Tigers will take on UNC Wilmington and Old Dominion on Friday before facing the Cowboys on Saturday afternoon.
Princeton is coming off a 22-23 season in 2002, including a 12-8 mark in Ivy League play.
Senior catcher Jon Miller leads the team with a .444 average in three games of action. Sophomore righthander Ross Ohlendorf is slated to take the mound for the Tigers against OSU. He is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA after giving up four runs in four innings in his start against Richmond on March 9.
About Old Dominion
Old Dominion is 5-10 on the season after dropping a pair to UNC-Charlotte in midweek action. They will take on Princeton on Friday and North Carolina State on Saturday before facing the Cowboys on Sunday.
The Monarchs are coming off of a 26-27 finish from a year ago, including a 8-12 mark in Colonial Athletic Association play.
Senior centerfielder Brent Sollenberger leads the team with a .373 batting average in 15 games while senior Brandon LeNoir is the top power source with two homers on the year.
Senior righthander Kevin Evans leads the ODU pitching staff with a 2-0 record and 1.12 ERA in four appearances. Sophomore righthander Justin Verlander, a preseason All-American, is 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts, including two complete games. He has struck out 37 batters in 32.2 innings.
About Duke
Duke is 11-8 on the year after taking two of three from Elon over the weekend. The Blue Devils return seven starters from last year's 24-34 club that finished last in the ACC.
Duke faces off against Ball State (twice), Brown and Radford before meeting the Cowboys Monday afternoon.
Freshman shortstop Adam Murray leads the team with a .394 batting average through 18 games, while senior Troy Caradonna is the top run producer with two homers and 15 RBIs.
Senior righty Jeff Alleva is top hurler for Duke, sporting a 2-0 record with a 1.73 ERA in five starts this season. He has shown great control with 29 strikeouts and only three walks in 26.0 innings pitched.
About Wake Forest
Wake Forrest is 10-5 overall heading into ACC play this weekend against Maryland. The Deamon Deacons are ranked as high as No. 14 in the polls this week.
Wake returns all nine starters from last year's team that finished 47-13-1 and second in the ACC.
Senior outfielder Adam Bourassa leads the team with a .404 batting average while outfielder/DH Ryan Johnson is the top power source with five homers on the year.
Junior righty Kyle Sleeth is the ace of the staff with a 4-0 record and 1.16 ERA in four starts.
Cowboys Sweep Miami (OH)
The Cowboys continued their winning ways last weekend with a sweep of Miami (Ohio) in Stillwater. OSU won by scores of 12-1, 6-2 and 11-3.
Oklahoma State broke open a 1-1 tie game with an eight-run fourth inning as the Cowboys rolled past Miami (Ohio) 12-1 on March 7.
Leftfielder Scott Kirby and designated hitter Mario Matulich had the big hits in the stanza, recording a three-run double and grand slam homer respectively.
Matulich led the Cowboys, going 1-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored while Kirby ended the afternoon 2-for-3 with four RBIs and one run scored.
Freshman southpaw Thomas Cowley saw his first action of the year and pitched an inning of scoreless relief with two strikeouts.
Oklahoma State completed the series sweep of Miami (Ohio) by taking both games of a doubleheader, 6-2 and 11-3, on March 8.
The Cowboys broke open a scoreless contest in the fourth inning of game one with four runs in the fifth. Shortstop Chris Gutierrez had a RBI double and Jos? Virgil extended his hit streak to 14 games with a RBI single to stake the Pokes to a 4-0 lead.
Cowboy starter Spencer Grogan (1-1) pitched six shutout innings to pick up his first win in an OSU uniform. The sophomore southpaw allowed just three hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
In the nightcap, Miami jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first off of starter Jimmy Rhodes. OSU responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. The Cowboys took advantage of four base on balls by RedHawk pitchers in the stanza, a problem that plagued them the entire series. MU walked 23 batters in the the three game series, including eight in the final game.
First baseman John Urick added a solo homer in the eighth, his second of the year, to round out the scoring. He finished the game going 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs. Jos? Virgil also had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, while Josh Fields and Chris Gutierrez aided the cause with two hits themselves.
Cowboy Notes
After the five-game North Carolina trip, OSU will have played 17 of its first 20 games on the road and will have traveled over 10,500 miles in the process ... Oklahoma State currently leads the Big 12 with a 2.25 ERA in 15 games ... The Cowboys have 58 games on the schedule, two over the NCAA limit ... Oklahoma State's strength of schedule is listed at No. 34 and RPI is No. 37 according to Boyd Nation's "Pseudo RPIs" ... Pitcher Scott Baker is listed as the No. 26 prospect in Baseball America's 2003 Top 100 College Prospects; southpaw Shane Hawk is also listed at No. 83 ... Shortstop Chris Gutierrez is hitting .438 in the seven-game winning streak, tops on the team ... Designated hitter Mario Matulich is 9-for-28 (.321) with two homers, 10 RBIs and eight runs scored in his seven games ... OSU pitchers have struck out 68 batters to only 23 walks in the last 62 innings while holding opponents to a .194 batting average ... The Cowboys are 11-for-15 in stolen bases over the last seven games, as opposed to 3-for-6 in the first eight contests ... Shane Hawk's 0.53 ERA is the best in the Big 12 ... OSU is fourth in the Big 12 with a .966 fielding percentage ...The Cowboys' 17 strikeout performance against Grambling on March 1 is the top strikeout performance in the conference this season.
Looking Ahead
After the five-game North Carolina swing, the Cowboys will return home to open Big 12 play against defending NCAA and conference champion Texas. The Longhorns and Pokes will open the series on Friday, March 21 at 3 p.m. The teams will face-off again on Saturday, March 22 at 2 p.m. before closing out the series on Sunday, March 23 at 1 p.m. Texas will open its conference slate this weekend against Missouri in Austin and will take on Southwest Texas next Tuesday before heading to Stillwater.
Grogan Gains Ground
Sophomore southpaw Spencer Grogan has continued to make strides in each start this season. The Cantonment, Fla., product had his best outing of the season in the Cowboys 6-2 win over Miami (Ohio) on March 8. He pitched six scoreless innings of three-hit ball, while striking out five and walking one to pick up his first win of the year.
Grogan did not factor in the decision in his previous start, a 5-2 OSU win over Nicholls State. He allowed two runs, one earned on six hits in five innings of work with a career high seven strikeouts.
He had made two relief appearances to start the year before gaining his first start against Arizona. The hard hitting Wildcats scored six runs in 3.1 innings to tag him with the loss, but since that time, Grogan has looked sharp with 12 strikeouts and only three strikeouts in his last 11 innings.
Urick Gets Hot
First baseman John Urick entered the season as a highly touted junior college All-American at Cowley County College after hitting 20 homers a year ago. The junior got off to a slow start in the Cowboys two games in Florida, going 0-for-7 at the plate. He has since rebounded in a big way and is one of the more consistent offensive performers in the Oklahoma State lineup. In the last 12 games, Urick is batting .372 with two homers and 13 RBIs. Both his home run and RBI totals lead the team heading into the weekend. He has also proven to be a fine fielder at first, boasting a sparkling 1.000 fielding percentage in 111 chances on the year.
Virgil Maintains Streak
Senior Jos? Virgil is among the most consistent performers on the Cowboy squad this season, as evidenced by his 15 game hitting streak heading into the weekend. He is also an offensive catalyst in the OSU seven-game winning stretch, batting .370 with two homers and nine RBIs. The versatile performer from Phoenix is also a threat on the base paths, with six stolen bases in six attempts. Virgil also leads the squad with 16 runs scored and is tied for the team lead in hits with 21.
Brian's Baseball Diaries
Senior shortstop Brian Kraft is keeping a running journal throughout the 2003 season. The diary will be published on Oklahoma State's official website: www.okstate.com usually every Thursday and Monday throughout the year, Brian's schedule permitting. In the most recent journal entry "Krafty" talks about the team's sweep of Miami (Ohio) and his struggles in Nintendo RBI Baseball.
Baker Named To Rotary Award Watch List
Junior pitcher Scott Baker is on the initial watch list of the Rotary Award, given to the top player in college baseball.
Baker went seven innings in his last start against Miami (Ohio) on March 7 and allowed just four hits with five strikeouts and no walks to improve to 3-2 on the year. He enters this weekend with a 3-2 record and 3.03 ERA.
Against Nicholls State on March 1, Baker allowed one run on six hits over seven innings of work with three strikeouts and two walks in the 17-1 win.
He was tabbed as the first Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Week after he pitched the first seven innings of OSU's 9-0 shutout of 18th-ranked Stetson on Feb. 8. He had a career-high eight strikeouts against the hard-hitting Hatters, allowed five hits and walked two before yielding to relief man Daniel Rew.
He was named a third-team preseason All-American by Baseball America after going 6-3 last season with a 4.23 ERA in 13 starts. The second-team All-Big 12 pick led the team with three complete games and struck out 47 batters in 76.2 innings pitched.
The Shreveport, La., native was a Cape Cod League All-Star for the Orleans Cardinals over the summer and helped lead them to the league championship series. He went 3-1 with a 1.61 ERA in nine starts for the Cardinals and struck out 52 in 56 innings pitched.
After the successful summer campaign in the Cape, Baseball America rated Baker as the 15th best pro prospect to come out of that league.
