Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Headed To Dodgertown Classic
February 24, 2010 | Cowboy Baseball
Feb. 24, 2010
Oklahoma State Cowboys
at the Dodgertown Classic
Feb. 26-28 • Los Angeles, Calif.
Oklahoma State
After having its scheduled season opener rained out last weekend, Oklahoma State will open the 2010 season at the Dodgertown Classic this weekend in Los Angeles. The tourney field also includes USC, UCLA and Vanderbilt.
With 233 career wins, head coach Frank Anderson is entering his seventh season at the helm of the Cowboys, who are coming off a season in which they finished 34-24. OSU advanced to the finals of the NCAA Clemson Regional, and with that appearance, became the only Big 12 Conference team to advance to a Regional championship round each of the last four seasons.
OSU returns five position starters from a year ago, including three players who batted over .300. The pitching staff returns a group that accounted for 56 percent of its wins in '09, as well as 14 of its 15 saves.
OSU is 51-20-1 all time in season openers and has won five in a row.
2010 Dodgertown Classic
OSU will face USC and UCLA on their home fields before taking on Vandy Sunday at Dodger Stadium. The Cowboys are 2-5 all time against USC and 1-5 all time against UCLA, while the matchup against Vanderbilt will be the first ever between the two teams.
OSU's two wins against the Trojans came in 1996 at the NCAA Central II Regional in Lubbock, Texas, and propelled the Pokes to the College World Series. The last meeting with UCLA came in 1999 at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Wichita, Kan. and resulted in a 17-10 win for the Cowboys.
Up Next For The Cowboys
Following its trip to Los Angeles, the Cowboys will head north to Minneapolis to compete in the Dairy Queen Classic, which will be played at the Metrodome, where OSU will face Northwestern, Minnesota and Loyola Marymount.
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 28th season with Cowboy baseball (15th as the play-by-play voice), will call the action, with Matt "Chief" Davis providing color commentary.
Radio broadcasts and live stats can also be accessed via www.okstate.com (links are available under Schedule/Results).
About This Weekend's Opponents
The Cowboys open play in the Dodgertown Classic against USC Friday at Dedeaux Field. The Trojans are 3-1 on the season.
UCLA will host OSU at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday. The 17th-ranked Bruins are off to a 4-0 start in 2010.
Vanderbilt is also 4-0 on the season and faces the Pokes Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since 1981, and in those 29 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 was 19-9 at home in 2009.
200 Club
With the Cowboys' 2009 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 seventh season at OSU and owns an overall career record of 233-132, which includes an 88-71 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 ranked among the Big 12's best in batting average (third at .300), triples (second with 21), home runs (third with 81) and slugging percentage (second at .503).
OSU returns leading hitter Tom Belza from last season's club, along with Kevin David and Mark Ginther, both of whom hit over .300. Belza and David also ranked second and third on the team in RBIs last season.
OSU led the Big 12 in three offensive categories in 2008 -- 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 continued a trend of having one of the league's most reliable pitching staffs in 2009.
Four different Cowboy hurlers had at least five wins in 2009, and the pitching staff ranked third in the Big 12 in saves (15), strikeouts (516) and batting average against (.264).
The good news is that OSU's pitching staff returns 56 percent of its wins from last season, and pitchers who combined for 14 of the Cowboys' 15 saves.
OSU returns pitchers who accounted for 255 strikeouts last season, as well as returning five of its six hurlers with the lowest ERAs (min. 10 appearances).
In 2008, the Cowboys led the Big 12 with a 3.98 team ERA and also topped the league with 21 saves. OSU's 3.98 ERA marked the only the second time since 1974 that the Cowboys finished the season with a team ERA under 4.00 (also did it in 2005).
New Faces
OSU's 2010 roster includes 17 newcomers, with eight freshmen and eight junior college transfers and one player who is starting his collegiate baseball career as a junior.
Four of the Cowboy newcomers were selected in last June's Major League Baseball Draft: Kevin Chambers (47th round by Detroit), Andrew Heaney (24th round by Tampa Bay), Dane Phillips (49th round by Seattle) and Nico Rosthenhausler (50th round by Detroit).
Highlighting the freshman class are Heaney, a southpaw hurler who could be in the starting weekend rotation, and Chambers, a versatile player who could see time at first base, in the outfield and on the mound.
The group of JUCO newcomers includes Rosthenhausler, an offensive star at South Mountain Community College, and Devin Shines, the son of former major leaguer and current assistant coach for the New York Mets Razor Shines.
