Oklahoma State University Athletics
Baseball Lands Stellar Recruiting Class
April 09, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
Oklahoma State head baseball coach Tom Holliday and his staff added seventeen newcomers to play baseball for the Cowboys in 1999.
"We had a very difficult recruiting class this year because we had so many talented juniors who had the option to go pro. We had to literally guess how many would leave and how many would return and only then did we search for recruits," said Holliday.
The Cowboys were one of four Big 12 schools in the rankings, while Atlantic Coast Conference power Georgia Tech earning the top spot. The other Big 12 schools in the rankings included Oklahoma (9), Texas (18) and Baylor (23).
Some of the players expected to make an immediate impact on the squad are transfers Lamont Matthews, a junior college All-American from Kishwaukee Junior College in Chicago, Ill. and pitchers Danny Kelly, a left-handed power pitcher from Okaloosa Walter Junior College, Denny New, a two-time draftee of the Cleveland Indians from Panola Junior College and Will Rosellini, a transfer from Vanderbilt University who played on the United States Junior Olympic team.
Holliday hopes this class will be able to fill holes at first base and in the pitching staff caused by graduation and the draft.
"We felt we needed to put some power back into the program and we hope Lamont Matthews will fill the void left by Tony Lucca ," noted Holliday. "The additions of Danny Kelly, Denny New and Will Rosselini are major coups for us in the pitching area and they will improve our pitching tremendously. This trio along with the return of Thom Dreier and Frank Bludau give us a strong set of pitchers to offset the losses of Jon Adkins and Danny Prata," added the third-year head coach.
Oklahoma State also added freshmen Ryan Budde, an All-State selection from Midwest City, Okla. and Mike Myers, an All-State selection at shortstop from Ft. Myers, Fla.
"Budde and Myers turned down big-time contracts to play professional baseball and we are tickled to death to have them. We believe we have cornerstones for the next three years in this program."
Three Cowboy recruits: Matt Holliday, Matt Roney, and Mamon Tucker opted to sign lucrative professional contracts and not attend OSU.
"We would have had an exceptional recruiting class if Holliday, Roney and Tucker had decided to come to OSU. Had those three shown up along with Budde and Myers, I think we would have had the best recruiting class in the country," stated Holliday.
1998 OSU Baseball Recruiting Class
Player Pos. Hometown/Previous School Chris Becerra OF Sonoma, Calif./University of Memphis Garrett Bell OF Midwest City, Okla./Midwest City HS Ryan Budde C Midwest City, Okla./Midwest City HS Casey Eckstein C Enid, Okla./Enid HS Carlos Gautreaux OF Kaplan, La./Grayson CC Ryan Hermann RHP Chandler, Okla./Chandler HS Daniel Kelly LHP Niceville, Fla./Okaloosa CC Mike Lorsbach OF Omaha, Neb./Millard HS Lamont Mathews OF Petersburg, Va./Kishwaukee CC Zack Mathews OF Nazareth, Texas/Dimmitt HS Michael Myers SS Fort Meyers, Fla./Bishop Vesot HS Denny New LHP Carrollton, Texas/Panola JC Michael Nix 1B Shreveport, La./Texarkana JC Toby Rhodes OF Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City North HS Dillon Roach RHP Stillwater, Okla./Stillwater HS David Rollandini RHP Springfield, Va./Robert E. Lee HS Will Rosellini RHP San Antonio, Texas/Vanderbilt University
