Oklahoma State University Athletics
2007 Cowboy Baseball Season Superlatives
June 29, 2007 | Cowboy Baseball
• The Oklahoma State Cowboys finished the 2007 season with a 42-21 record and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons under head coach Frank Anderson.
• OSU's 42 wins gave the Cowboys back-to-back 40-win seasons for the first time since reaching the mark for 20 consecutive seasons between 1980-99.
• The Cowboys won the Fayetteville Regional as the No. 3 seed, defeating No. 2-seed Creighton and twice beating top-seeded and No. 7 national seed Arkansas on its home field to advance to a Super Regional.
• OSU advanced to its second Super Regional in school history and first since 1999. The Cowboys' season ended at the Super Regional as they lost 2-of-3 games against Louisville.
• OSU's 42 wins was its most ever under Frank Anderson and its most since the 2001 season when the Cowboys also had 42 victories.
• The Cowboys were ranked in the national polls throughout the season. OSU was ranked as high as 10th in 2007, which marked the program's highest ranking since 1999, and the Cowboys finished the season ranked No. 18 by the NCBWA, 19th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, 21st by Collegiate Baseball and No. 23 by Baseball America.
• OSU finished 16-11 and in third place in the Big 12 Conference regular season standings, its second consecutive top-three finish in the league.
• The Cowboys had six players earn All-Big 12 distinction, the second-highest total of any team in the conference. Making the first team were second baseman Tyler Mach and outfielders Corey Brown and Ty Wright, while Rebel Ridling (1B), Matt Mangini (3B) and Jordy Mercer (Utility) were second team picks. Justin Friend (RP), Keanon Simon (OF) and Mercer (SS) were honorable mention selections.
• OSU ranked prominently in numerous NCAA team and individual statistical categories in 2007, including:
TEAM
Batting average - 17th (.319)
Scoring - T-10th (7.7 rpg)
HR per game - 7th (1.37)
2B per game - 13th (2.29)
Slugging percentage - 5th (.518)
INDIVIDUAL
Batting average - Ty Wright, T-23rd (.405)
Home runs - Corey Brown, T-4th (22)
HR per game - Corey Brown, T-10th (0.36)
RBI per game - Tyler Mach, 6th (1.29)
Runs per game - Corey Brown, 7th (1.30)
Slugging percentage - Corey Brown, 11th (.736)
BB per game - Corey Brown, T-5th (1.05)
ERA - Justin Friend, 22nd (2.11)
• The Cowboys led the Big 12 in six offensive categories, including batting average (.319), slugging percentage (.518), runs (484), doubles (144), home runs (86) and RBI (446). They ranked second in on-base percentage (.401) and hits (713).
• Six of the Cowboys in the starting lineup hit .332 or better.
• OSU's pitching staff ranked second in the conference with 484 strikeouts, and their 161 walks was the second fewest in the league.
• Tyler Mach was named an All-American by the NCBWA (2nd team), ABCA (2nd team), Baseball America (3rd team) and Louisville Slugger (3rd team). He was also the NCBWA District VI Player of the Year, one of the final 30 candidates for the Brooks Wallace Award and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
• Corey Brown earned second-team All-American honors from the NCBWA, ABCA and Baseball America. He was also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.
• Brown ranked in the top three in the Big 12 in eight different offensive categories, including leading the league in walks (66) and runs (82).
• Ty Wright became the first Cowboy to hit .400 in a season since 2000. Wright led the Big 12 with a .405 batting average.
• Wright also had a 35-game hitting streak in '07. That streak set a Big 12 Conference record and is also the second longest in OSU history behind Robin Ventura's NCAA record 58-game streak. Wright's streak also tied for the second longest in the NCAA during the 2007 season.
• Justin Friend led the Big 12 with a 2.11 ERA.
• OSU's .971 fielding percentage ranked third in the Big 12 and was also the third-best season fielding percentage in school history.
• The Cowboys had either the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week or Player of the Week six times in 2007.
Feb. 12 - Oliver Odle
March 19 - Corey Brown
March 19 - Justin Friend
April 2 - Rebel Ridling
April 17 - Ty Wright
May 14 - Tyler Mach
• OSU had six players selected to the All-Tournament Team at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional and first baseman Rebel Ridling was named the tourney's Most Outstanding Player. OSU's all-tournament selections were Ridling, Tyler Mach (2B), Ty Wright (OF), Keanon Simon (OF), Corey Brown (OF) and Oliver Odle (P).
• Jordy Mercer was named to the 2007 USA Baseball National Team, becoming the seventh OSU player to earn the honor of making a USA Baseball roster.
* Tyler Mach (2B), Corey Brown (OF) and Keanon Simon (OF) were named to the ABCA All-Midwest Region first team, while Matt Mangini (3B) and Ty Wright (OF) made the second team.
* Outfielder Keanon Simon was one of 10 finalists for the inaugural Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. In conjunction with the award, Simon was named to the second team for the All-Senior All-America Teams.
• OSU had a school record 11 players selected in the 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. The Cowboys had two first-round picks for just the third time in program history.
Supplemental 1st round - Matt Mangini, 3B (Seattle)
Supplemental 1st round - Corey Brown, OF (Oakland)
4th round - Tyler Mach, 2B (Philadelphia)
7th round - Ty Wright, OF (Chicago Cubs)
13th round - Justin Friend, P (Oakland)
22nd round - Oliver Odle, P (San Francisco)
25th round - Keanon Simon, OF (Pittsburgh)
32nd round - Matt Gardner, P (L.A. Dodgers)
33rd round - Josh Fritsche, P (St. Louis)
36th round - Martin Beno, P (Washington)
38th round - Robbie Weinhardt, P (Houston)
• The OSU baseball team also excelled in the classroom during 2007. In the fall semester, the Cowboys set a school record for baseball with a collective 3.15 G.P.A. Of the 39 players on the roster, 23 earned a 3.0 G.P.A. or higher. And for the second-straight semester, the Cowboys had 10 players named to the President's or Dean's honor rolls.
In the spring, the Cowboys topped that performance as 24 of the 39 players on the roster - 62 percent - earned a 3.0 or better G.P.A.
• The Cowboys led the Big 12 with nine Academic All-Big 12 selections, including seven first-team honorees. Brandon Adams, Ryan Flavell, John Schindler, Tyler Mach, Keanon Simon, Jeff Breedlove and Joe Kent were first-team all-academic selections, while Josh Fritsche and Ty Wright earned second-team honors.
