Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Close Out Regular Season With Trip To Lubbock
May 13, 2009 | Cowboy Baseball
May 13, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format
Oklahoma State (30-21, 7-15)
at Texas Tech (23-28, 11-13)
May 15-17 • Fri. - 6:30 p.m.
Sat. & Sun. - 1 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas • Dan Law Field (4,466)
Oklahoma State
The Cowboys are 30-21 overall and close out the regular season this weekend with a trip to Lubbock, Texas, to battle Texas Texas. OSU is in ninth place in the conference standings with a 7-15 league mark, and the Cowboys are 1-6-1 in its Big 12 series in 2009.
In order to qualify for the eight-team Big 12 Baseball Championship next week in Oklahoma City, OSU must sweep the three-game series against Texas Tech and Nebraska must defeat Baylor three times this weekend in Lincoln. The Cowboys have not missed a conference tournament since the 1977 season.
OSU sports a .299 team batting average on the season and ranks among the Big 12 leaders in several offensive categories.
OSU's pitching staff has a collective 4.50 ERA and ranks second in the Big 12 with 14 saves and 432 strikeouts.
Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are 23-28 overall and seventh in the Big 12 Conference standings with an 11-13 mark. TTU is 4-4 in league series this season and has won all three of its Big 12 series in Lubbock, and the Red Raiders have secured a berth in next week's Big 12 Championship.
Texas Tech owns a .305 team batting average, and its pitching staff sports a collective 6.13 ERA.
In The Polls
Neither Oklahoma State nor Texas Tech is ranked in any of this week's national polls.
On The Air & The Web
All OSU baseball games are carried live by Stillwater Radio on KSPI 93.7 FM and/or 780 AM. Rex Holt, who is in his 27th season as the play-by-play voice of Cowboy baseball, will call the action, with Matt Davis providing color.
Radio broadcasts and live stats can also be accessed via www.okstate.com (links are available under Multimedia).
About Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are 23-28 on the season, including an 11-13 mark in Big 12 play.
OSU is 26-20 all time against Texas Tech. Last season, the Cowboys won the first two games of the series in Stillwater before losing the finale.
Players To Watch
• SS Joey Kenworthy (.357, 2 HR, 28 RBI)
• 1B Chris Richburg (.351, 13 HR, 53 RBI)
• RHP Chad Bettis (4-0, 7 saves, 3.76 ERA)
Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday: RHP Nate Karns
4-5, 5.44 ERA in 11 starts
Saturday: RHP Louis Head
1-3, 2 saves, 4.60 ERA in 18 outings
Sunday: TBA
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since 1981, and in those 28-plus seasons the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.
The Cowboys are 740-159 (.823) all-time at Reynolds Stadium and have lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only once (six in a row in May 2007).
OSU is 19-9 at Reynolds Stadium in 2009.
200 Club
With the Cowboys' season-opening win over BYU, Frank Anderson became the fifth head coach in OSU history to reach 200 career victories. He is the third-fastest coach to reach the milestone in Stillwater behind Gary Ward and Tom Holliday.
Anderson is in his sixth season at OSU and owns an overall career record of 229-129, which includes an 86-70 mark in Big 12 play.
Aluminum Assault
Over the last several seasons, OSU has established itself among the top hitting teams not only in the Big 12 Conference but on a national scale.
In 2009, the Cowboys rank among the Big 12's best in doubles (107), triples (19) and slugging percentage (.492).
Last season, OSU led the Big 12 in three offensive categories -- batting average (.326), slugging percentage (.531) and home runs (89). The Cowboys finished second in the league in runs, hits, triples and RBIs.
In '06, OSU led the Big 12 in homers, triples and slugging percentage, and in 2007 the Cowboys led the Big 12 in six offensive categories and ranked second in two more.
Kings Of The Hill
OSU also had one of the top pitching staffs in college baseball in 2008, and the '09 version has been solid as well.
Four different Cowboy hurlers have at least five wins in 2009, and the pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in saves (14) and strikeouts (464).
Last season, the Cowboys led the Big 12 with a 3.98 team ERA and also topped the league with 21 saves. The staff returned seven pitchers who made at least eight appearances and worked 15 or more innings in '08.
OSU's 3.98 ERA in '08 marked the first time since 2005 the Cowboys' finished the season with a team ERA under 4.00. The '05 and '08 seasons are the only two since 1974 that OSU has had an ERA of less than 4.00.
Short Hops
• The Cowboys are 8-11 against ranked teams in 2009, including three wins over Top 10 teams (#6 Cal State Fullerton, #7 Baylor & #9 Texas).
• OSU pitchers Andrew Oliver, Tyler Blandford and Thomas Keeling rank third, fourth and ninth, respectively, in the Big 12 in strikeouts.
• In the latest official NCAA RPI rankings, OSU comes in at No. 25. The Big 12 Conference has seven teams among the top 28 in the RPI.
• Two Cowboy pitchers had career-best strikeout performances against Oklahoma last week. Tyler Lyons racked up 13 strikeouts, the most by an OSU pitcher this season and three more than his previous career high, and Tyler Blandford bested his previous high with a 12-strikeout effort.
• Sophomore Tom Belza has hit safely in nine-straight Big 12 Conference games and is hitting .469 (15-for-32) during the streak.
• Tyler Blandford (92) and Andrew Oliver (90) are both on the verge of reaching the century mark in strikeouts this season. OSU has not had a pitcher collect 100 strikeouts in a season since Matt Smith had 114 in 2000.
