Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Heads To Nebraska
March 31, 2005 | Cowboy Baseball
No. 21 Oklahoma State (21-8, 4-2 Big 12)
vs. No. 7/8/16/20 Nebraska (22-3, 2-1 Big 12)
Friday, April 1 • 6:35 p.m.
Saturday, April 2 • 2:05 p.m.
Sunday, April 3 • 1:05 p.m.
Hawks Field at Haymarket Park (8,486)
All-Time Series:
OSU leads 107-65 and went 3-1 against NU last year.
Last Year:
May 8, 2004 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 4 Stillwater
May 9, 2004 Oklahoma State 6, Nebraska 3 Stillwater
May 10, 2004 Nebraska 9, Oklahoma State 1 Stillwater
May 28, 2004 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 1 Arlington, Texas
Polls:
OSU is ranked No. 21 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 29 by Collegiate Baseball. Nebraska is ranked No. 7 by CB, No. 8 by the NCBWA, No. 16 by Sports Weekly/ESPN and No. 20 by Baseball America.
The Coaches:
OSU’s Frank Anderson is 59-32 in his second season as head coach and 3-1 against Nebraska. NU’s Mike Anderson is 105-44 in his third season in Nebraska and is 4-3 against Oklahoma State.
Radio:
93.7 FM
Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 23rd season.
What’s On Tap
Fresh off a 13-game homestand, Oklahoma State hits the road for the first time in Big 12 play, traveling to Nebraska for a three-game series this weekend. The Cowboys and Huskers will hook up at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.
About Nebraska
Nebraska is 22-3 and ranked as high as No. 7 (Collegiate Baseball) after taking two of three from Kansas in last week’s Big 12 opener. The Huskers defeated Creighton 10-2 in Lincoln on Tuesday and enter the weekend winners of 14 of their last 15 games.
Preseason All-America third baseman Alex Gordon leads the team with a .404 average to go along with 10 homers, 26 RBI and 12 stolen bases in as many attempts. NU sports a lofty .330 team batting average to go along with 34 homers and 211 runs scored in 25 games.
Nebraska’s rotation for the weekend will be sophomore righthander Joba Chamberlain (4-0, 1.72 ERA) on Friday, junior lefthander Zach Kroenke (3-0, 2.66 ERA) on Saturday and sophomore southpaw Brian Duensing (4-0, 2.12 ERA) on Sunday. The Huskers have a 2.23 team ERA with 198 strikeouts in 217.2 innings pitched.
Series Notes: Despite holding a commanding 107-65 all-time series lead, OSU is just 11-17 against NU since the Big 12 formed ... OSU won three of the four meetings last year, prior to that Nebraska had won 11 of 12 ... The Pokes have lost eight in a row in Lincoln dating back to the 1999 season ... OSU’s last win at Nebraska came on April 9, 1999.
UALR Recap
Oklahoma State’s bats came alive in the two-game sweep over Arkansas-Little Rock as the Cowboys outscored the Trojans 31-7 in the series.
Southpaw Adam Daniels struck out a personal best and OSU season high 13 batters in OSU’s 10-2 win on Tuesday. Rusty Ryal was the hitting star in the game going 4-for-5 with four RBIs. Daniels improved to 5-2 on the year, allowing just one run on six hits in eight innings of work with three walks.
OSU exploded for 14 first-inning runs in the 21-5 win on Wednesday. Adam Carr and Corey Brown both had grand-slam homers in the first inning as the Cowboys never looked back. Carr had three of the team’s 15 hits on the day as OSU hit .405 as a team in the two games with seven homers, six doubles and three triples. Four pitchers pitched at least an inning of scoreless relief, led by David Bacon’s three shutout innings in Wednesday’s game.
Baylor Recap
Oklahoma State used two stellar starting pitching performances to take two out of three against then No. 10 Baylor last weekend in Stillwater.
Thomas Cowley allowed just one run in eight innings of work in the Cowboys 7-1 win on Friday night. Adam Carr had two RBI on the night as OSU handed the Bears their first conference loss of the season.
BU used a solid pitching performance by junior Mark McCormick to get past the Cowboys 6-3 on Saturday. OSU could manage just four hits on the day, while Rick Rivas was charged with the loss on the mound after giving up five runs, four earned in six innings of work.
Scott Richmond then threw a complete game in Sunday’s 3-2 rubber game win. The game was tied at 2-2 in the ninth when the Cowboys loaded the bases with one out. Steve Ptak then hit a sacrifice fly ball to right that scored a sliding Jeff Parrish to win the game. It was the Cowboys first series win over Baylor in Stillwater since 1997.
Richmond Named Big 12 Pitcher Of The Week
Scott Richmond has been selected as Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Co-Pitcher of the Week in voting by a of media covering Big 12 baseball for games played March 22-28. Richmond and Oklahoma pitcher Stephen Guerra shared pitching kudos in their first career recognitions.
Richmond led OSU to a series win over nationally-ranked Baylor with a complete game performance last Sunday in his first start after 11 relief appearances. The senior had a one-hit shutout for 6 2/3 innings before then-No. 10 Baylor broke through with a couple of runs. Richmond allowed
two runs on six hits with six strikeouts and a walk in improving to 2-1 on the year. For the week he appeared twice, pitched 10 innings, yielded six hits, struck out eight, and walked one while lowering his Big 12-best hitters allowed average to .132.
Gutierrez Heating Up At The Plate
Ever since junior shortstop Chris Gutierrez celebrated his 21st birthday three weekends ago, he has been on fire at the plate.
He was 8-for-11 (.727) with two doubles, two triples, three runs batted in and six runs scored against Wisconsin-Milwaukee and went 6-for-11 with three RBI against KSU two weeks ago. Gutz was 3-for-8 against Baylor and carried a OSU season best 12-game hitting streak into Tuesday’s UALR game before going hitless in the game.
In 18 games in March, the Orlando, Fla., native went 25-for-60 (.417) with 13 runs scored and 12 RBIs. He went from hitting .293 on March 8 to a team leading .371 entering this weekend’s play.
Brown’s Bat Comes Alive
Freshman Corey Brown has become a significant force in the Cowboys offense over the last month. He hit two homers in the UALR series to give him five on the year and is now fourth on the squad with a .359 batting average. He led the Pokes in March with a .444 batting average (20-for-45) in 15 games with two doubles, three triples, three homers and 14 RBI. He has started in the last 12 games and looks to have solidified a spot as the designated hitter and part-time centerfielder.
Consistent Cowley
Junior hurler Thomas Cowley continued his consistent ways against Baylor, allowing one run on eight hits in eight innings of work in last Friday’s 7-1 win. He improved to a team best 6-1 on the year and now has a staunch 1.61 ERA. He threw 8.2 innings of shutout baseball against Kansas State on March 18 before giving up his first earned run in 26.2 innings of action. He was an out away from pitching a complete game shutout before the Wildcats rallied in their final at-bat. Cowley allowed two runs on seven hits with a walk and six strikeouts in improving to 5-1 on the year.
In his previous start, he threw eight innings of three-hit shutout baseball against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 11. Cowley did not walk a batter while striking out nine and had not given up an earned run dating back to his start against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi game on Feb. 25. He pitched his first complete game of the season against Louisiana Tech on March 4, allowing just two unearned runs on six hits in the contest. Cowley enters the Friday start against Nebraska having thrown five innings or more in seven of his eight starts.
Reliable Richmond
Senior righthander Scott Richmond has developed into one of the Cowboys more reliable performers in his final collegiate campaign.
Richmond, who currently serves as a long relief specialist, opened the 2004 season as the Cowboys No. 1 starter and closed it as their relief ace.
He went the distance in his first start of the year (see Player of the Week note) and leads the team with a 1.25 ERA. This season he has been virtually unhittable, allowing just 19 hits in 43.1 innings (.132), while striking out 44.
The senior picked up his third save of the year against Kansas State on March 18 after recording the final out of the contest with the tying and go ahead runs on base. He then pitched 4.2 innings of scoreless relief in Sunday’s contest before giving up a two-run homer in the seventh inning.
Richmond pitched two innings of one-hit relief against Wisconsin-Milwaukee on March 13 and has allowed just two earned runs in his last seven outings.
Against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 25, he pitched 8.2 innings of relief, which surprisingly, isn’t his longest career relief outing. Richmond pitched 10 innings in relief last year in the Cowboys 10-8 win over Kansas in 14 innings.
On Deck
The Cowboys will hit the road again to take on Texas Tech in Lubbock next weekend. The Red Raiders are 18-8 overall and take on Missouri in Columbia this weekend.
Cowboy Notes
The Cowboys lead the Big 12 in homers with 43 ... Scott Richmond leads the Big 12 in opponents batting average (.132) ... OSU is 16-2 in three game series this season ... Adam Carr leads the conference with 10 homers and 87 total bases ... The Pokes have scored first in 24 of their 28 games played ... The team is 17-0 when out hitting their opponents ... OSU has outscored its opponents 44-4 in the first inning ... The Cowboys finished the month of March with a 14-4 record after going 7-4 in February ... Brae Wright is expected to miss the next several weeks due to a hand injury ... Mike Phinney saw his first action of the year with an inning of relief against UALR on Wednesday ... Catcher Matt Clarkson returned to action after sitting out 11 games due to injury ... Eight of the Cowboys’ nine offensive starters are hitting .315 or better entering the weekend.
Broadcast Info
Every Oklahoma State game will be broadcast this season on the KSPI network of stations. Rex Holt, will once again call all of the action for the Cowboys. Former Cowboy coaching great Gary Ward will join Rex in the booth from time to time this season. The 2004 Cowboy Baseball Hall of Fame inductee is spearheading the schools effort in raising money for the renovation of Reynolds Stadium.
This weekend’s contests can be heard on the KSPI family of stations with both Friday’s and Sunday’s game set for 93.7 FM, while Saturday’s games is scheduled for 780 AM.
Coach Anderson Radio Show
Fans can listen to coach Frank Anderson on his weekly radio show every Monday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. on 93.7 KSPI FM. The show started on Feb. 14 and is co-hosted by Rex Holt at the new Rib Crib restaurant on Perkins Road.
Coach Anderson’s weekly television show will begin in April on a date to be determined. The show, co-hosted by Tom Dirato, features highlights, analysis and feature stories with the Cowboy baseball team.
