Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Set For Bedlam Baseball
May 11, 2005 | Cowboy Baseball
Oklahoma State (31-18, 10-11 Big 12)
vs. Oklahoma (26-21, 9-12 Big 12)
Friday, May 13 • 7:35 p.m.
Drillers Stadium (10,997) • Tulsa
May 14-15 • 7:06 p.m., 2:06 p.m.
SBC Bricktown Ballpark (13,066) • Oklahoma City
All-Time Series:
Oklahoma State leads 136-133 in series results that date back to 1935.
Last Two Years
May 1, 2004 Oklahoma 4, Oklahoma State 1 (Game 2) Oklahoma City
May 1, 2004 Oklahoma State 6, Oklahoma 5 (Game 1) Oklahoma City
April 30, 2004 Oklahoma State 8, Oklahoma 5 Tulsa
May 22, 2003 Oklahoma 4, Oklahoma State 2 Oklahoma City (Big 12 Tourn.)
April 27, 2003 Oklahoma 6, Oklahoma State 5 Oklahoma City
April 26, 2003 Oklahoma 7, Oklahoma State 4 Oklahoma City
April 25, 2003 Oklahoma State 8, Oklahoma 3 Tulsa
Polls:
Neither team is ranked this week.
The Coaches:
OSU’s Frank Anderson is 69-42 in his second season as head coach and 2-1 against Oklahoma.
OU’s Sunny Galloway is 3-1 in his first season as head coach in Norman and 338-157 in nine seasons overall. He went 4-8 against Oklahoma State in his eight years at Oral Roberts (1996-2003).
Radio:
93.7 FM Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 23rd season.
TV:
Cox Cable (Friday)- Brian Brinkley (Play-By-Play), Kenny Mossman (Analysis)
ESPNU (Saturday)- Mark Neeley (Play-By-Play), Kyle Peterson (Analysis)
ESPN/ESPNU (Sunday)- Dave Barnett (Play-By-Play), Kyle Peterson (Analysis)
What’s On Tap
Oklahoma State looks to get back on track in Big 12 play this weekend against Oklahoma in the annual Bedlam baseball series. The Cowboys and Sooners will hook up on Friday at 7:35 p.m. at Drillers Stadium in Tulsa before moving to Oklahoma City for the final two matchups. The teams will play at 7 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark.
The game in Tulsa is approaching a sellout with limited tickets available through the Driller Ticket office (918) 744-5998. Around 10,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s contest while 7,000 have been sold for Sunday’s game. Fans interested in attending the games in Oklahoma City can call the Oklahoma RedHawks ticket office at (405) 218-1000.
About Oklahoma
Oklahoma is 26-21 overall and in sixth place in the Big 12 with a 9-12 mark entering the weekend. The Sooners are 3-1 under interim head coach Sunny Golloway who replaced Larry Cochell following his resignation on May 1.
Junior third baseman Ryan Rohlinger leads the team with a .361 batting average to go along with seven homers and 38 RBIs. Freshman Kody Kaiser is the top power source with eight homers, while first baseman Eric Thornton leads the squad with 41 RBIs.
The Sooner pitching staff is led by ace right-hander Daniel McCutchen who is 2-4 on the year with a 4.76 ERA. He is 1-2 with a 2.95 ERA in eight conference games including four starts. The rest of the pitching rotation for the weekend is still to be determined. OU sports a 4.70 team ERA with 346 strikeouts and 168 walks in 419 innings pitched.
Bedlam Series Notables
Oklahoma State’s series win over Oklahoma last season was its first since the 2001 series sweep ... OU has won three of the last five series (2000, 2002, 2003) ... OSU has won the last four meetings in Tulsa and are 5-9 all-time against the Sooners at Drillers Stadium ... OU has won six of the last seven meetings at Bricktown and hold a 12-6 advantage over the Cowboys there ... OSU is 12-12 against OU in Big 12 regular season matchups and 0-5 in Big 12 tournament games ... Cowboy senior hurler Scott Richmond picked up both of OSU’s wins in the series last year.
Ninth Inning Dramatics Lift Pokes Past Oral Roberts
Freshman outfielder Corey Brown’s two-out two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Oklahoma State to a 6-5 win over Oral Roberts in front of a season high 3,672 fans Tuesday night at Reynolds Stadium.
The Cowboys trailed 5-4 heading into the ninth before Steve Ptak and Chris Gutierrez walked to start the frame. Rusty Ryal’s then attempted to sacrifice bunt, but was not successful as first baseman Rene Recio threw out Ptak at third. Keanon Simon then struck out to set up Brown’s heroics. He hit a 1-2 pitch to the leftfield wall off of ORU reliever Daniel Greenwalt (5-2) that scored both runners to win the game.
The win was the Pokes first ninth-inning comeback of the season as they had previously gone 0-14 when trailing after eight.
Oral Roberts had a 4-0 lead after three and a half innings of play. The Golden Eagles scored a single run in the second and another in the third on a homer to right by shortstop Michael Hollimon. Dennis Bigley had a RBI double and Brian Aguailar had a RBI single in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Cowboys rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of a two-run homer by Corey Brown, his 12th of the year, and a RBI double by Ty Wright.
OSU tied it in the fifth on a RBI single by Keanon Simon. He finished the day 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
ORU took a 5-4 lead in the eighth on a RBI double by John Tackett off of reliever Adam Daniels.
Corey Brown finished the night 3-for-5 with four RBIs and a run scored. Reliever Blake Kronkosky (2-1) pitched a perfect ninth to pick up the win.
Brown’s Big Bat
Freshman Corey Brown has become the best outfielder in the Big 12 and showed a flair for the dramatic with a walk-off double in Tuesday’s win over ORU. He has been on a tear offensively and has become a driving force in the Oklahoma State lineup in the second half of the season.
Brown is not only making a push for the Big 12’s Freshman of the Year award, he should also be considered for All-America honors as well. The Tampa, Fla., product went 3-for-7 against Texas A&M with two homers and three RBIs. He was also walked six times in the three games including a career-high three times in Sunday’s finale.
Brown was 5-for-11 against Texas the previous weekend with a homer, triple, double and three runs scored. He is now 20-for-43 (.465) in his last 12 conference games with five homers, nine RBIs and 13 runs scored.
He leads OSU and is third in the conference with a .390 batting average to go with 12 homers and 41 RBI. Both his batting average and homer totals are tops among freshman and outfielders in the conference. Brown also leads the Cowboys and is second in the league with a .418 average in 21 conference games to go along with five homers and 15 RBI.
Simon Says With His Bat
Sophomore outfielder Keanon Simon has stepped up recently at the plate and has shown that he is fully healthy and ready to go down the home stretch of the season. The Allen, Okla., product was hampered by a hand injury that limited his playing time in April.
He tied a single game career high with three hits against Texas A&M on April 30 and tied it again with three hits against Oral Roberts on Tuesday. Simon has seen his average bump from .250 entering the A&M series to .282 entering the Bedlam series this weekend. He is making his case to get back in the everyday lineup.
Kronkosky Stepping Up
Sophomore left-hander Blake Kronkosky has stepped into the weekend rotation in the middle of April and has allowed only two combined runs in 17 innings against Missouri (4/15) and Texas A&M (4/30).
He is coming off a stellar performance against Texas A&M where he tossed a complete game five-hit shutout. Kronkosky needed less than 80 pitches and allowed just five hits in picking up his first win in an OSU uniform.
The Leander, Texas product then picked up his second win of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth inning against Oral Roberts Tuesday night. He is now 2-1 on the year with a 3.24 ERA and has not allowed a run in his last 10 innings pitched.
Texas A&M Recap
Oklahoma State had three complete game pitching performances against Texas A&M two weekends ago, but had just one win to show for it.
The Cowboy offense was held in check by Aggie hurler Robert Ray in a 3-2 decision in the first game of the series on April 29. Junior ace Thomas Cowley (8-4) struggled early before settling down and pitching his second straight complete game. He allowed three runs in eight innings with two strikeouts and three walks.
The offense came alive and Blake Kronkosky pitched a complete game gem in the Cowboys 8-0 win that Saturday. Rightfielder Corey Brown and catcher Jeff Parrish each had homers in the game.
A&M had a strong combined pitching effort to defeat the Pokes 3-1 on Sunday. Scott Richmond was the tough luck loser after going the distance and allowing three runs on 10 hits with seven strikeouts and three walks in eight innings.
On Deck
The Cowboys will close out the regular season with four games against Kansas teams next week. OSU will take on Wichita State next Tuesday, May 17 at 7 p.m. at Eck Stadium, before closing out the regular season against Kansas in Lawrence. The three-game conference set is slated to begin on May 20 at 7 p.m. The Jayhawks will take on Missouri this weekend before hosting the Cowboys next week.
Cowboy Notes
Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 with 78 homers, a .313 batting average, a .536 slugging percentage and 24 triples ... The Cowboys closed out its home schedule with a 25-8 mark at Reynolds Stadium ... Chris Gutierrez, Corey Brown and Adam Carr are tied for the conference lead with five triples ... Justin Colbert is sixth in the Big 12 in runs scored with 49 and fourth in walks with 35 ... Jeff Parrish is fourth in the conference in home runs (12) and sixth in RBIs (46) ... Thomas Cowley is third in the conference with 93.1 innings pitched and third in wins with eight ... Scott Richmond is fourth in the league with 79 strikeouts ... Richmond is third in the Big 12 in opponents batting average at .180 ... OSU is fourth in the league with a .971 fielding percentage ... Six of the nine Cowboy offensive starters are hitting .300 or better entering the weekend ... OSU has hit 19 homers in its last 12 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 ... OSU will play the rest of its games in the 2005 season away from home.
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 every Tuesday. Heading into the OU series, OSU is third in the nation in home runs per game (1.60) and fourth in slugging percentage (.537). The Cowboys are also eighth in triples per game (0.49) and 14th in scoring (8.3 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 (1.52) and ninth in homers per game (0.35).
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.
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.
