Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Hosts No. 1 Texas
April 21, 2005 | Cowboy Baseball
Oklahoma State (28-14, 8-7 Big 12)
vs. No. 1/3 Texas (33-6, 9-5 Big 12)
Friday, April 22 • 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 23 • 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 24 • Noon
Reynolds Stadium (4,000)
All-Time Series:
Texas leads 35-19 in a series that dates back to 1913.
Last Season:
May 29, 2004 Oklahoma State 8, Texas 2 Arlington
March 28, 2004 Texas 11, Oklahoma State 3 Austin
March 27, 2004 Oklahoma State 3, Texas 2 (10) Austin
March 26, 2004 Texas 8, Oklahoma State 4 Austin
Polls:
OSU is ranked No. 27 in Collegiate Baseball this week. UT is ranked No. 1 by Baseball America, ESPN/Sports Weekly and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Collegiate Baseball has them at No. 3 this week.
The Coaches:
OSU’s Frank Anderson is 66-38 in his second season as head coach and is 2-2 against Texas. UT’s Augie Garrido is 368-183-1 in nine seasons in Austin and is 1519-707-8 in 37 seasons as a head coach. He is 18-13 all-time against Oklahoma State.
Radio/TV:
93.7 FM Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 23rd season.
ESPN2 Dave Barnett (Play-by-Play), Kyle Peterson (Analysis) on Sunday.
What’s On Tap
Oklahoma State closes out its eight-game homestand this weekend as No. 1 Texas comes to town. The teams will open play on Friday night at 7 p.m. and will continue the set on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at Noon. The series finale will be televised nationally on ESPN2 with Dave Barnett (play-by-play) and Kyle Peterson (color) calling the action.
About Texas
Texas, ranked No. 1 in three of the four college baseball polls, is 33-6 on the year after sweeping Oklahoma over the weekend and edging past Rice by a 7-6 count Wednesday night in Houston. The Longhorns are coming off their fourth College World Series appearance in five years and were Big 12 champions and NCAA runner-ups a year ago.
Shortstop Seth Johnston leads the team with a .391 batting average to go along with 12 doubles and 30 RBIs. He is hitting .444 in 14 league games with a team-high 13 runs scored. Centerfielder Drew Stubbs, the Big 12 Player of the Week, leads the team with nine homers and 18 stolen bases in 21 attempts.
UT’s pitching staff enters the weekend with a 2.75 ERA, third best in the conference. The Longhorns probable rotation will be a trio of righthanders: Kyle McCulloch (6-2, 2.78 ERA) on Friday, Adrian Alaniz (3-0, 1.79 ERA) on Saturday and Randy Boone (4-2, 3.50 ERA) on Sunday. Alaniz, a redshirt freshman, was named national and conference pitcher of the week after no-hitting the Sooners last Saturday. Junior reliever J. Brent Cox (5-1, 2.01 ERA) leads the Big 12 with 10 saves and has struck out 58 batters to only nine walks in 44.2 innings.
Series Notes: The teams split the season series last year at 2-2, with the Longhorns taking two of three in Austin before the Cowboys won in the Big 12 tournament semifinals ... OSU captured the series in Stillwater in 2003 and are 9-6 at home all-time ... the two teams have met in Omaha nine times with Texas holding a 5-4 edge ... OSU is 11-16 against UT since the Big 12 conference began play in 1997 ... the Cowboys win in Austin last year snapped the Longhorns undefeated home record at 16 games.
Dallas Baptist Recap
Oklahoma State starter Nate Melek pitched seven solid innings of five hit baseball in a 9-6 win over Dallas Baptist Tuesday night at Reynolds Stadium.
The Cowboys won their fourth straight game and improved to 28-14 on the year.
Melek (3-1) avenged an earlier loss to DBU in February, allowing only five hits in seven innings with a career-high six strikeouts. He gave up two runs with three walks in his longest outing of the year.
The Cowboys jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first with Adam Carr and Jeff Parrish recording RBI singles in the frame.
The Patriots scored a run in the second on a RBI single by Austin Krum. That would be there only run off of Melek until the eighth inning.
Adam Carr hit his Big 12 leading 17th homer of the year in the third to extend the OSU lead to 4-1. The Pokes added two more runs in the fifth on a RBI single by Parrish and a bases loaded walk to Matt Clarkson.
OSU added three runs in the seventh, two coming via Clarkson’s first homer of the year and another via a RBI single by Keanon Simon.
Dallas Baptist made things interesting in the eighth scoring five runs off of Cowboy relief pitchers, before veteran southpaw Brett McDonald stabilized the game. He picked up his first save of the year with two innings of one-hit scoreless relief.
Simon, Carr, Parrish and Chris Gutierrez led the Pokes with two hits each, while Austin Krum led the Pats with two hits as well.
Carr Leads Nation In Home Runs And RBIs
Adam Carr’s home run against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night tied him with Jason Maxey of Towson for the nation’s lead with 17. Carr also added two RBIs to up his NCAA leading total to 71 on the year. The Felton, Calif., product’s homer total is the most by a Cowboy since current Houston Astro Luke Scott hit 20 in 2001. Carr is hitting .363 overall and also leads the conference in total bases (125) and is second in hits (62), slugging percentage (.760) and third in triples (4).
Missouri Recap
Oklahoma State was in seventh place in the Big 12 at 5-7 and Missouri was in first with an 8-1 mark when the two teams met last weekend. The Cowboys who had gone 1-5 in their previous two conference series needed to rebound and did so in grand fashion by sweeping all three games from the Tigers.
Sophomore southpaw Blake Kronkosky got his first league start of the season in the Friday night contest and was sharp, allowing just two runs on seven hits in eight innings of work. He matched Missouri’s ace Max Scherzer who came into the game with a 6-1 record and 1.03 ERA. The teams were tied at 2-2 through nine innings and played six more innings before Adam Carr’s grandslam homer in the 15th gave the Pokes a 6-2 win.
Staff ace Thomas Cowley picked up his eighth win of the season in OSU’s 6-4 win on Saturday. He allowed four runs in seven innings of work and centerfielder Steve Ptak hit a two-run homer that paved the way to victory.
The Cowboys rallied from an early 5-0 deficit on Sunday, using a two homer, five RBI day by Jeff Parrish to complete the sweep by a 8-5 score. Rick Rivas pitched 7.1 innings of five hit relief to pick up the win.
Reliable Richmond Delivers Again
Senior righthander Scott Richmond continued his strong season on the mound in the Cowboys’ sweep of Missouri. Richmond came into Friday night’s contest in the ninth inning and proceeded to pitch seven innings of three-hit scoreless relief. The Vancouver native struck out 10 batters and did not allow a walk to pick up his third win of the season.
The resilient performer was not done there, as the next day he came into the game in the eighth inning with the tying runs on bases in a 6-4 contest and mowed down the Tigers in 1.2 innings of work. He earned his fourth save of the year and pitched 8.2 innings of three-hit scoreless relief on the weekend with 13 strikeouts and no walks.
Oklahoma State Listed In Several NCAA Statistical Rankings
Oklahoma State is listed among the top clubs in the country in several statistical categories released by the NCAA on Tuesday. Heading into the Texas series, OSU led the nation in home runs (69) and was second in home runs per game (1.68) and fourth in slugging percentage (.552). The Cowboys were also 11th in triples per game (0.49) and eighth in scoring (8.9 runs per game).
Two Pokes are among the nation’s leaders in individual categories led by Adam Carr who was fourth in the nation in RBIs per game (1.68) and homers per game (0.39). Staff ace Thomas Cowley was tied for second in the nation with eight wins on the year, one behind the national leader Cesar Carrillo of Miami.
Carr and Wright Named To Wallace Award Watch List
First baseman Adam Carr and leftfielder Ty Wright were named to the Wallace Award Watch List recently by the College Baseball Foundation.
The Wallace Watch list of 2005 nominees will be trimmed to 12 semi-finalists by Tuesday, May 22nd. The list will then be narrowed to the three finalists following the NCAA Super Regionals, at a press conference in Omaha on Thursday, June 16, 2005.
Dedicated to the memory of former Texas Tech shortstop and assistant coach, Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980. After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach. In the summer of 1984 he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27.
Cowboy Notes
Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 with 71 homers, a .321 batting average, a .553 slugging percentage and 372 runs scored ... Chris Gutierrez is tied for the conference lead with five triples ... Justin Colbert is second in the Big 12 in runs scored with 47, third in hits (56) and walks with 31 ... Jeff Parrish is fourth in the conference in home runs (11) and third in RBIs (45) ... Corey Brown is the top freshman hitter in the league batting at a .373 clip ... Thomas Cowley leads the conference with 76.1 innings pitched and eight wins ... Scott Richmond and Adam Daniels are fourth in the league with 69 strikeouts ... Richmond is second in the Big 12 in opponents batting average at .155 ... OSU is fourth in the league with a .972 fielding percentage ... Seven of the nine Cowboy offensive starters are hitting .300 or better entering the weekend ... OSU has hit 13 homers in its last six Big 12 games after hitting just one in its first nine conference tilts ... Thomas Cowley matched his win total of last year in his win over Missouri on April 16 ... Ty Wright has a 10 game hitting streak, Justin Colbert an eight-game one and Corey Brown a seven-game skein entering the weekend ... After the eight-game homestand is complete on Sunday, the Pokes will only have one of its last 11 contests at Reynolds Stadium (vs. Oral Roberts May 10).
Brown’s Big Bat
Freshman Corey Brown is making a push for the Big 12’s Freshman of the Year award as he continues to produce at the plate. The Tampa, Fla., product went 7-for-12 (.583) with four runs scored against Missouri last weekend and is 12-for-25 (.480) in his last six Big 12 games with two homers, five RBIs and eight runs scored.
He is now hitting .373 on the year with eight homers and 33 RBI, with his batting average and homer total best among freshman in the conference. Brown also leads the Cowboys with a .408 average in conference games to go along with two homers and 11 RBI.
Colbert Continues To Rake
Junior second baseman Justin Colbert continued to have a hot streak at the plate with a 6-for-14 (.429) weekend against Missouri. He added a hit against Dallas Baptist and carries an eight game hitting streak into this weekend’s games.
He is 12-for-25 in his last six conference games and is now batting .339 with a team high 47 runs scored and 33 walks.
On Deck
The Cowboys will hit the road next weekend to take on Texas A&M in conference action. The Aggies are 25-16-1 on the year and 5-10 in league play heading into this weekend’s series against Kansas State in Manhattan.
After next weekend’s series OSU will take the first week of May off due to finals and will be back in action on May 10 against Oral Roberts to close out the home schedule.
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.
You can listen to the rest of the Cowboys’ baseball games this season on 93.7 KSPI FM in Stillwater or via the internet at www.okstate.com.
Coach Anderson Radio/TV 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 began on April 2 and will be shown on Saturday’s at 7:30 a.m. on Fox 23 in Tulsa and at 4 p.m. on Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. The show, co-hosted by Tom Dirato and Fox 23 sports director Ron Terrell, features highlights, analysis and feature stories with the Cowboy baseball team.
