Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Hosts Kansas State
April 19, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
No. 23/25 Oklahoma State (17-9, 4-2 Big 12) vs. Kansas State (10-16, 0-6 Big 12)
Friday, April 4 * 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 5 * 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 6 * 2 p.m.
Reynolds Stadium (4,000) * Stillwater, Okla.
All-Time Series: OSU leads 134-46 and has won four of the last six meetings
Last Five Meetings: Oklahoma State 11, Kansas State 5 April 6, 2001 (Stillwater) Kansas State 13, Oklahoma State 5 April 7, 2001 (Stillwater) Oklahoma State 4, Kansas State 3 (10 inn.) April 8, 2001 (Stillwater) Oklahoma State 16, Kansas State 6 March 22, 2002 (Manhattan) Oklahoma State 10, Kansas State 9 March 23, 2002 (Manhattan) Kansas State 10, Oklahoma State 5 March 23, 2002 (Manhattan)
In The Polls: Oklahoma State is ranked No. 23 in Collegiate Baseball, No. 25 in Baseball America and No. 30 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Poll.
The Coaches: OSU's Tom Holliday is 264-135 in his seventh season in Stillwater. KSU's Mike Clark is 430-468 in his 17th season in Manhattan.
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 21st season.
What's On Tap: Oklahoma State continues its 11-game homestand this weekend with a three-game Big 12 series against Kansas State. Friday's game is set for a 6 p.m. start with a single game on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. All three games can be heard on KSPI 93.7 FM in Stillwater or via the internet through www.okstate.com.
About Kansas State: Kansas State is 10-16 overall and 0-6 in the Big 12 after getting swept by Missouri over the weekend. The Wildcats are coming off a 30-25 campaign in 2002 and a fifth place showing in league play. They made the Big 12 tournament for the first time last season and advanced to the semifinals. Senior Pat Maloney, a first team All-Big 12 selection in 2003, leads the club with a .371 batting average in 25 games while senior Tim Doty is the top power source with eight homers and 29 RBIs. As a team, KSU is hitting .300 with 24 homers and 193 runs scored. The Wildcat pitching rotation for the weekend is RHP Jim Ripley (2-2, 5.72 ERA) on Friday, LHP Sean Clancy (1-2, 6.75 ERA) on Saturday and RHP Kevin Melcher (0-2, 6.66 ERA) on Sunday.
Fields/Kirby Homers OSU Past UALR: Third baseman Josh Fields knocked a grand-slam homer in Oklahoma State's eight run second inning as the Cowboys held on to defeat Arkansas-Little Rock 12-8 Wednesday night at Reynolds Stadium. The Pokes took an 8-0 lead in the second with seven of the runs coming off a three-run homer by leftfielder Scott Kirby and the grand-slam homer by Fields. The final run in the inning came off a RBI single by designated hitter Mario Matulich. Arkansas-Little Rock cut into the lead in the fifth with a three-run homer by right fielder Aaron Haefele. Those were the only runs Cowboy starter Justin Ottman (1-0) would give up in his five innings of work. He allowed just four hits with five strikeouts and just one walk to pick up his first win in an OSU uniform. Kirby would add his second homer of the evening, a solo shot, in the bottom half of the inning to extend the lead to 9-3. The Trojans scored two runs in the sixth on a RBI single by first baseman Brodie Ward and on an error by centerfielder Jose Virgil to cut the advantage to 9-5. UALR added a run in the eighth on a bases loaded walk by shortstop Matt Spatafora off of Cowboy closer Daniel Rew. The Pokes added three insurance runs in the bottom of the inning to make it 12-6. Arkansas-Little Rock made it interesting in the ninth by adding two more runs on a solo homer by catcher Rick Guarno and a RBI single by first baseman Brodie Ward to cut the lead to 12-8. The Trojans had runners on first and second with two outs before Rew got Haefele to fly out to center to end the game.
Pokes Take Two From Jayhawks: The Oklahoma State offense continued its recent success in propelling the squad to a series win over Kansas in Lawrence over the weekend. Jason Jaramillo provided the big blow for the Cowboys in the first game of the series, knocking a three-run homer in the 8-7 win. OSU rallied from a 4-1 deficit with a run in the fifth and Jaramillo's homer in the sixth to go on top 5-4. The Pokes took advantage of a throwing error in the ninth to extend the inning and score three insurance runs that proved to be the difference in the ballgame. KU first baseman Ryan Baty hit a three-run blast to center off of Cowboy closer Daniel Rew to cut the lead to 8-7. Junior southpaw Shane Hawk came in and sealed the deal to record his first save of the year. Junior ace Scott Baker earned the win with seven innings of work to improve to 6-3 on the season. The Cowboy bats came alive early in game two when José Virgil blasted a two-run homer in the top of the first. It would be the first of two for Virgil as OSU cruised to a 16-6 win to clinch the series. Third baseman Josh Fields hit his first homer of the year while first baseman John Urick and designated hitter Mario Matulich led the 17-hit Cowboy barrage with three hits each. Sophomore lefty Spencer Grogan scattered 12 hits over eight innings and allowed four runs with three strikeouts and no walks to pick up his second win in 2003. Kansas salvaged its series with a 10-8 win in the finale. Oklahoma State took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth but could not hold it, as KU rallied with two runs in the stanza and broke it open with a four-run fifth inning. The Cowboys trailed 10-4 heading into the ninth and rallied for four runs, three coming off a homer by Matulich, to cut the lead to 10-8. The deficit proved to be too much, however, as the Cowboys lost their second conference game of the year. Josh Fields had three hits on the afternoon to pace the Pokes while Matulich and John Urick each had two hits in the losing effort.
Cowboy Offense Comes Alive: Heading into the conference opening weekend against Texas on March 21, Oklahoma State relied mainly on its pitching staff in posting a 12-7 mark. The staff ERA was a sparkling 2.21 which led the Big 12, while the offense was last in the conference with a .275 average. Since taking two of three from Texas, the Cowboy bats have come alive and have led the team to a 6-2 record in that span. The squad has belted 16 homers and scored 65 runs in and has raised the overall average up to .286. The team has fared well in its six conference games, boasting a .309 batting average with 13 homers, eight doubles and 50 runs scored. That bodes well for this weekend as Kansas State comes to town with a Big 12 worst 6.63 team ERA.
Cowboy Notes: Scott Baker has won in his last three appearances and with another win will set a new career high for wins in a season ... Shane Hawk's five wins this season ties the combined total he had in his first two seasons ... The Cowboys batted .333 as a team with seven homers, three doubles and 32 runs scored in the three game series against Kansas ... Daniel Rew gave up his first three runs of the year on a homer in the 8-7 win over KU on March 29 ... Oklahoma State finished the month of March with a 13-4 mark after starting the season in February with a 3-5 ledger ... The Cowboys will play 17 of their 20 games in April in the state of Oklahoma ... First baseman John Urick is hitting a lofty .542 (13-for-24) in Big 12 play ... Jason Jaramillo is batting .391 with five homers and 17 RBIs in conference action ... With the cancelled Wake Forest game, the Cowboys have 57 games on the schedule, one over the NCAA limit ... 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 ... Hawk's 0.87 ERA is the best in the Big 12.
On Deck: Arkansas State After the Kansas State series the Cowboys will host Arkansas State for two midweek games on April 8-9. The Indians are 15-13 on the year and 5-1 in Sun Belt Conference action heading into a weeekend series with Western Kentucky in Bowling Green.
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 series win over Kansas and the variety of dining choices the team enjoyed.
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 has won in his last three appearances and is now 6-3 on the year with a 3.08 ERA. He went seven innings in his last outing against Kansas on March 29 and gave up four runs on seven hits while tying his career high strikeout mark with nine. He allowed only one run in 7.1 innings of work in the Cowboys 4-3 win over Texas on March 23. The righthander then made his first career relief appearance against Texas-Arlington on March 25 and pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win. The Shreveport, La., native recorded a career-high nine strikeouts in a 4-3 loss to North Carolina State on March 14. He allowed four runs, three earned, in seven innings of work. Baker went seven innings 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. 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.
