Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Baseball Prepares To Defend Big 12 Tournament Crown
May 23, 2005 | Cowboy Baseball
No.6 Seed Oklahoma State
(33-23, 12-15 Big 12)
2005 Big 12 Tournament
May 25-29
SBC Bricktown Ballpark (13,066)
Oklahoma City, Okla.
First Round:
vs. No. 3 Seed Texas (43-12, 16-10 Big 12) • May 25 • 10 a.m.
Second Round:
vs. No. 2 Seed Baylor (36-20, 19-8 Big 12) • May 26 • 10 a.m./5 p.m. OR
No. 7 Seed Kansas (36-26, 11-15 Big 12) • May 26 • 10 a.m./5 p.m.
All-Time Tourney Record:
OSU is 9-14 including a 3-10 mark in games played in Bricktown.
Last Two Years
May 30, 2004 Oklahoma State 10, Missouri 9 (13) Arlington, Texas
May 29, 2004 Oklahoma State 8, Texas 2 Arlington, Texas
May 28, 2004 Oklahoma State 7, Nebraska 1 Arlington, Texas
May 26, 2004 Oklahoma State 6, Texas A&M 5 Arlington, Texas
May 22, 2003 Oklahoma 4, Oklahoma State 2 Oklahoma City
May 21, 2003 Texas 10, Oklahoma State 7 Oklahoma City
Polls:
Oklahoma State is not ranked this week.
The Coach:
OSU’s Frank Anderson is 71-47 in his second season as head coach and 4-0 in the Big 12 tourney.
Radio:
93.7 FM Rex Holt (Play-by-Play) is in his 23rd season.
Live Stats:
Live stats can be viewed through the official Big 12 website (www.big12sports.com).
What’s On Tap
Oklahoma State looks to defend its Big 12 tournament crown this week at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. OSU, the No. 6 seed, will take on No. 3 seed Texas in the opening game of the tourney on Wednesday at 10 a.m. If the Pokes win they will take on the winner of the Baylor (No. 2 seed)-Kansas (No. 7 seed) game on Thursday at 5 p.m. The losers of the two games will meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
About Texas
Texas was one of two teams in the conference to finish the regular season with 40 wins as the team took two of three from Texas A&Mover the weekend to finish 43-12 overall and 16-10 in league play.
Shortstop Seth Johnston leads the team with a .389 batting average to go with eight homers and 47 RBIs. Centerfielder Drew Stubbs leads the team in homers with 10 and stolen bases with 24 in 29 attempts this year. The Longhorns finished the regular season with a .292 batting average as a team including a league best .281 average in 26 conference games.
The Texas pitching staff sports a 2.68 team ERA that is second best in the Big 12. Righthander Kyle McCulloch (9-3, 2.43 ERA) is the ace of the staff, while J. Brent Cox is the closer with a 7-2 record, 13 saves and an 1.86 ERA in 32 relief appearances.
2005 Series Results: Texas took two of three games in Stillwater the weekend of April 22-24. The Longhorns used a complete game effort by Kyle McCulloch to win the first game 4-3. UT then hit three homers in the ninth inning to take the second game 12-8, before OSU used a solid outing by Rick Rivas (8.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 6 SO) to claim the series finale 3-2.
Rusty Ryal 6-for-11 (.545), Chris Gutierrez 5-for-10 (.500) and Corey Brown 5-for-11 (.455), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR led the team during the series.
Big 12 Tourney Results: The teams first met in the tournament in 2002 and have played each other once every year since. Texas holds a 2-1 lead, with OSU winning in last year’s semifinal by an 8-2 score.
About Baylor
Baylor lost two of three at home to Missouri this weekend and finished in a tie for the conference crown with Nebraska. The Bears closed the regular season with a 36-20 mark overall and a 19-8 ledger in league games.
Catcher Josh Ford leads the team with a .333 batting average to go along with six homers and 34 RBIs. Designated hitter/catcher Zach Dillon is the only other Bear to hit over .300 on the year, finishing with a .321 mark, including a .327 average in league play. BU hit .271 as a team, last in the league, with 37 homers and 291 runs scored in 56 games.
Pitching is the key to Baylor’s success this season, as the team sported a 3.42 ERA and held opponents to just a .233 batting average. Junior righthander Mark McCormick, expected to be one of the top pick in the amateur baseball draft next month, leads the team with a 7-2 record and 3.22 ERA. He went 6-1 in the league with a 2.72 ERA and struck out 87 batters in 81 innings overall.
The Bears have two closers in Ryan LaMotta (5-1, 2.70 ERA, 5 Saves) and Abe Woody (7-3, 3.06 ERA).
2005 Series Results: Oklahoma State took two of three from Baylor in Stillwater the weekend of March 25-27. Thomas Cowley (8.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 SO) led the Cowboys to a 7-1 win in the first game while Mark McCormick returned the favor with a solid outing in Saturday’s 6-3 win. Scott Richmond then allowed two runs in a complete game effort on Sunday as OSU broke a 2-2 game with a run in the ninth to win 3-2.
Corey Brown 3-for-7 (.429) and Chris Gutierrez 3-for-8 (.375) led the team offensively during the series.
Big 12 Tourney Results: Oklahoma State has won both meetings against Baylor in the tourney, an 18-4 win in 2001 and an 11-8 win in 1997.
About Kansas
Kansas is 36-26 overall and 11-15 in the league after taking two of three from Oklahoma State over the weekend. The seventh place finish is the Jayhawks highest ever in the Big 12 and head coach Ritch Price has now led KU to the tournament in two of his three years in Lawrence.
First baseman Jared Schweitzer leads the team with a .372 average to go along with seven homers and 32 RBIs. Outfielder A.J. Van Slyke is the top power source with 12 homers and 57 RBIs, while centerfielder Matt Baty leads the team with 29 stolen bases in 36 attempts. The Jayhawks are hitting .297 as a team entering the tourney with 59 homers and 453 runs scored.
Junior righthander Kodiak Quick is the ace of the staff with a 10-5 record and 3.53 ERA. Senior lefthander Mike Zagurski is 8-4 with a 4.46 ERA and should start the team’s second game on Thursday. The Jayhawks have a 4.70 overall ERA and a 5.57 ERA in Big 12 games that both rank ninth in the league.
2005 Series Results: Kansas took the series from Oklahoma State for the first time since 1993.
Adam Carr (see more below), Chris Gutierrez 6-for-14 (.429) and Rusty Ryal 5-for-13 (.385) led the team at the plate while Adam Daniels picked up the win on Sunday, allowing two runs on 11 hits in six innings with seven strikeouts.
Big 12 Tourney Results: The teams have never met in the Big 12 tournament.
OSU In The Big 12 Tournament
Oklahoma State swept through last season’s field with a 4-0 record to win its first ever Big 12 tournament crown at Ameriquest Field in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys are 9-14 in the event that started in 1997.
Prior to last year’s success, OSU was 5-14 in the tournament, including a 3-10 mark at the Bricktown Ballpark. The Cowboys failed to win a game in the double elimination tournament in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003. The highest Oklahoma State has finished in tourney games played in Oklahoma City is third in 1997 and 2002.
Adam Carr Named Big 12 Hitter Of The Week
Adam Carr was selected as the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Player of the Week in voting by a select group of media covering Big 12 baseball for games played May 17-23. It is first weekly laurel for Carr who hit four homers to move his Big 12 leading total to 21 to end the regular season.
Carr went 7-for-11 (.636) in three games at Kansas and clouted three home runs to tie the school record for a single game with eight RBI (Big 12 season high) in a 9-3 victory over the Jayhawks last Sunday. He belted four home runs in the series and drove in 11 runs as the Cowboys
qualified for the Phillips 66 Big 12 tourney a record ninth consecutive season.
Pitching Shows Improvement
Frank Anderson was known as one of the top pitching coaches in the country when he was hired as Oklahoma State’s head coach two years ago and he has made his mark on the Cowboy pitching staff over the last two years. Heading into the weekend, Oklahoma State’s 3.87 ERA is the lowest since recording a 3.60 ERA in 41 games in 1974. That was also the last time a Cowboy pitching staff had a sub 4.00 ERA. The 2005 squad’s earned run average is the lowest among OSU teams that played 50 or more games in a season with the next closest the 1980 team that sported a 4.08 mark in 53 games.
Gutierrez Closes Out In Style
Junior shortstop Chris Gutierrez closed out the regular season in style, recording a career high five hits in five at-bats in the Cowboys’ 9-3 win over Kansas Sunday afternoon.
The Orlando, Fla., product has been one of the hottest Cowboys at the plate over the last 15 games. Gutierrez is 25-for-55 (.455) with five doubles, a homer, seven RBIs and nine runs scored over that span. He has also played a stellar short with only one error in 59 chances (.983 fielding percentage).
He ended the regular season with a career high .350 batting average overall and a .374 batting average in 27 Big 12 games that ranked second on the team and fourth in the conference.
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. You can listen to the Cowboys’ baseball games this season on 93.7 KSPI FM in Stillwater or via the internet at www.okstate.com.
Cowboy Notes
Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 with 82 homers, a .517 slugging percentage and 26 triples ... Corey Brown leads the conference in triples with six ... Justin Colbert is seventh in the Big 12 in runs scored with 52, while Brown is fourth in walks with 43 ... Jeff Parrish and Brown are fifth in the conference in home runs (12) ... Thomas Cowley is fourth in the conference with 103.1 innings pitched and tied for second in wins with nine ... Scott Richmond is fourth in the league with 90 strikeouts ... Richmond is fourth in the Big 12 in opponents batting average at .189 ... OSU is fourth in the league with a .972 fielding percentage ... OSU’s 24 homers in league play was tops in the regular season, with the Pokes hitting 23 in the last 18 Big 12 games ... Thomas Cowley matched his win total of last year in his win over Missouri on April 16 ... Nine of the Cowboys 23 losses have been by one run, including six of the last 11 defeats ... OSU is 8-18 when scoring five runs or less and 25-5 when scoring six runs or more ... the Pokes finished with its first sub .500 mark in league play since 1977 ... OSU is just one of three schools that have made all nine Big 12 tournaments (Baylor and Oklahoma).
Brown’s Big Bat
Freshman Corey Brown has become the best outfielder in the Big 12 and will be the driving force in the Oklahoma State lineup in the years to come.
Brown is not only making a run 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 has gained respect from around the league over the last month and has walked 19 times in the last 14 games. He now has 43 for the season, fourth highest in the Big 12 heading into the tournament.
He leads OSU and is fourth in the conference with a .374 batting average to go with 12 homers and 44 RBI. Both his batting average and homer totals are tops among freshman in the conference. Brown also leads the Cowboys and is second in the league with a .391 average in 27 conference games to go along with five homers and 18 RBI. His 23 walks in league play are second only to Nebraska’s Alex Gordon’s 29.
