Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Close Out Regular Season
May 20, 2010 | Cowboy Baseball
May 20, 2010
Oklahoma State (29-23, 8-16)
at Baylor (28-21, 9-13)
. . .
May 21-23 • Waco, Texas
Baylor Ballpark (5,000)
Fri. - 6:30 p.m./Sat. - 3 p.m./Sun. - 1 p.m.
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State closes out the 2010 regular season this weekend with a critical three-game series with Baylor in Waco, Texas. The Cowboys are in ninth place in the Big 12 Conference standings with an 8-16 record and need a three-game sweep of BU to qualify for next week's Big 12 Baseball Championship in Oklahoma City.
OSU is 33-26 all time against Baylor. The two teams split a rain-shortened two-game series in Stillwater last season. The Cowboys are just 2-6 in their last three series in Waco (2004, '06, '08).
OSU head coach Frank Anderson is in his seventh season at the helm of the Cowboys and has led the club to 262 wins in his career. The Pokes are coming off a season in which they finished 34-24 and advanced to the finals of the NCAA Clemson Regional. With that showing, OSU became the only Big 12 Conference team to advance to a Regional championship round each of the last four seasons.
OSU sports a .310 team batting average, with five of the Cowboy regulars in the starting lineup hitting .300 or better, and the pitching staff has a collective 5.51 ERA.
In Big 12 play, the Cowboys are hitting a collective .262, while the pitching staff has a combined 7.19 ERA.
About Baylor
The Bears are 28-21 on the season and in eighth place in the Big 12 standings with a 9-13 league mark. BU is hitting .310 as a team, while its pitching staff has a 3.86 ERA.
BU is hitting .280 in conference games and ranks second in the league with a 3.84 team ERA against Big 12 competition.
On The Air & The Web
All OSU baseball games are carried live by Stillwater Radio and will air on KSPI 93.7 FM 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).
Hot Hitters
Oklahoma State sports a .310 team batting average. The Cowboys are second in the Big 12 in doubles with 123 and third in sacrifice flies with 30.
Junior Davis Duren leads OSU with a .378 batting average, which includes a .362 clip in conference play. His average also ranks seventh in the Big 12. The second baseman and leadoff hitter leads the Cowboys with 55 RBIs (T-6th in Big 12) and 85 hits (2nd in Big 12).
Freshman Dane Phillips ranks second on the Cowboys with a .341 batting average. He turned in a 15-game hitting streak earlier this season and is third on the Cowboys with 17 multi-hit games.
JUCO transfer Luis Uribe is hitting .349 and is 12-for-30 (.400) with four homers and nine RBIs in OSU's last eight games.
Sophomore third baseman Mark Ginther is hitting .318 and ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in homers (11), RBIs (55) and total bases (120).
Junior shortstop Tom Belza brings a seven-game hitting streak into the weekend during which he's hitting .500 (13-for-26).
Lyons Climbing The Charts
Tyler Lyons is poised to finish his OSU career with his name prominent throughout the Cowboys' pitching record book.
A native of Lubbock, Texas, Lyons is 22-14 in his OSU career, with his 22 wins tied for 10th on the Cowboys' all-time list.
The southpaw ranks fourth on OSU's career innings pitched list with 306.0 and is sixth on OSU's career strikeouts list with 265. Lyons has 41 career starts, which is tied for sixth on the Cowboys' career list.
Lyons is also on the verge of cracking the top 10 on OSU's career list for appearances as his 64 are one shy of that mark.
The Thief
Junior second baseman Davis Duren leads the Big 12 with 29 stolen bases, a total which ranks among the national leaders and is the most by a Cowboy since Roberto Lopez had 33 in 1994.
Against Oklahoma Christian, Duren swiped four bags, the most by a Cowboy since 2004 and one shy of the school's single-game record.
Last season, Duren was 14-of-15 on stolen base attempts to lead the Cowboys.
From his leadoff spot in the lineup, Duren leads the Cowboys with a .378 batting average and 55 RBIs.
Duren has had career-long hitting streaks of 16, 14 and 11 games this season.
Vote For Lyons
Cowboy fans can vote for pitcher Tyler Lyons for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for baseball.
Lyons is one of 10 finalists for the award, which is given annually to a Division I senior student-athlete who has notable achievements in four areas of excellence -- community, classroom, character and competition.
Fan balloting is available on the award's official Web site, www.seniorCLASSaward.com, as well as through text messaging. Fans can text B7 to 74567 to vote for Tyler. Voting will end May 31, and the online and text votes will be combined with votes from coaches and media to determine the recipient of the award.
CWS Legends
Former OSU stars Pete Incaviglia and Robin Ventura were recently named to the College World Series Legends Team.
Ventura was a third baseman who led OSU to consecutive CWS appearances in 1986 and 1987, while Incaviglia slugged the Cowboys to Omaha in 1983, '84 and '85. Ventura made the CWS All-Tournament team in each of his two trips to Omaha, and Incaviglia was a CWS All-Tournament selection in 1983 and 1984 as a designated hitter.
In nine career CWS games, Ventura hit .459 (17-for-37) with seven doubles, eight RBIs and five runs. He led the 1986 Series with a .600 batting average and three doubles, and in 1987, he carried OSU to the CWS championship game and was 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI in the title tilt.
Incaviglia played in 11 CWS games and hit .357 (15-for-42) with four home runs, 16 RBIs, three doubles and nine runs.
Short Hops
• The Cowboys have committed just 40 errors this season and sport a .979 fielding percentage, which ranks second nationally and in the Big 12. OSU set a school record with a .976 fielding percentage in 2009.
• OSU's eight-game winning streak in March was its longest since the Cowboys won 12 in a row during the 2008 season.
• Frank Anderson ranks fourth on OSU's all-time coaching wins list with 262. He is 19 wins shy of third-place Tom Holliday's 281.
