Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Bears In Midweek Tilt
February 28, 2011 | Cowboy Baseball
Feb. 28, 2011
Oklahoma State (6-1)
vs. Missouri State (4-3)
. . .
March 1 • 4 p.m. • Stillwater, Okla.
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000)
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State returns to midweek action Tuesday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium with a 4 p.m. contest against Missouri State. The Cowboys are 6-1 on the season after a three-game sweep of Cal Poly last weekend in Stillwater. OSU ranks fourth in the Big 12 Conference with a .306 team batting average, while the Cowboys' 2.43 team ERA ranks second in the league.
The Cowboys are coming off a 2010 season in which they finished 29-26. Five starters return from that ballclub, led by All-Big 12 second baseman Davis Duren, and OSU has added a host of newcomers in a recruiting class that has been ranked as high as 15th nationally.
OSU head coach Frank Anderson is in his eighth season at the helm of the Cowboys and has led the club to 268 wins and five NCAA Tournament appearances in his career. During a four-year span from 2006-09, OSU was the only Big 12 Conference team to advance to an NCAA Regional championship round each season.
About Missouri State
The Bears are 4-3 on the season. Junior designated hitter Brock Chaffin leads MSU with a .424 batting average and six RBIs, while the Bears sport a collective .321 batting average.
Missouri State is led by head coach Keith Guttin, who is in his 29th season with the Bears and has led them to a 963-610 record.
OSU is 6-2 all time against Missouri State. The two teams split a pair of games in 2010, with the Cowboys winning 8-2 in Stillwater on March 19 before the Bears won on their home field by a 7-5 margin on April 7.
Tuesday's meeting will be the first of two between OSU and Missouri State this season. The clubs will also play in Springfield, Mo., on May 17.
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 29th season with Cowboy baseball (16th 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).
Additionally, all OSU home games are available to watch online via paid subscription at okstate.tv.
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since 1981, and in those 31 seasons the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.
OSU is 769-170 (.819) all-time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only twice (six in a row in May 2007; three straight in 2010).
The Cowboys were 23-10 at home in 2010.
300 Club
OSU head coach Frank Anderson is on the verge of becoming the third coach in Cowboy history to reach 300 wins. Gary Ward (953 wins) and Toby Greene (318) are the only two previous OSU coaches to reach that mark.
Anderson is in his eighth season at OSU and owns a career record of 268-155, which includes a 96-87 mark in Big 12 play. He ranks fourth on OSU's all-time coaching wins list, 13 wins shy of third-place Tom Holliday's 281.
New Faces
OSU's 33-man 2011 roster includes 18 newcomers -- 12 junior college transfers, five high school players and one Division I transfer.
Five of the Cowboy newcomers were selected in last June's Major League Baseball Draft, highlighted by freshman right-handed pitcher Jason Hursh, who was a sixth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Also among OSU's freshman class is Nate Sorenson, a scholarship quarterback for the Cowboy football team who was a 40th-round pick of Pittsburgh following his prep career.
The group of JUCO newcomers includes MLB draftees Chris Marlowe and Blake Barnes, who will challenge for OSU's closer role, and infielder Zach Johnson, who also turned down pro ball and could play several positions for the Cowboys.
High Marks
In February, Baseball America ranked the top 50 players in each college class for the 2011 season. The players were ranked on the basis of their pro potential. Among the Cowboys ranked were:
Davis Duren - #12 senior
Mike Strong - #24 senior
Andrew Heaney - #26 sophomore
Jason Hursh - #23 freshman
Flashing The Leather
Over the last several seasons, OSU's defense has turned in some of the top fielding performances in program history.
The Cowboys have recorded a fielding percentage over .970 just six times in its history, and five of those have come in the last six seasons.
OSU made history in 2010 when the Cowboys set a school record with a .978 fielding percentage, a mark which also ranked fifth nationally.
Last year's performance marked the third-straight year that OSU had tied or set the school record for fielding percentage after the Cowboys had a .974 fielding percentage in 2008 and a .976 fielding percentage in 2009.
OSU's '08 and '09 fielding percentages led the Big 12.
Through seven games in 2011, the Cowboys have made just five errors -- tied for the fewest in the Big 12 -- and sport a league-best .982 fielding percentage.
Smooth Transitions
Several newcomers have had immediate impacts for the Cowboys in 2011.
JUCO transfers Gabe Weidenaar, Hunter Bailey and Zach Johnson have each earned starting spots and rank among OSU's top performers thus far.
A native of Montana, Weidenaar leads the Cowboys and ranks ninth in the Big 12 with a .462 batting average. In the season opening series vs. Bryant, the switch hitter was 7-for-10 at the plate. He has hit safely in every game for OSU this season and also picked up a save on the mound in the series finale against Cal Poly.
Not to be outdone is Zach Johnson, who has started six games at first base for the Cowboys and ranks second on the club in RBIs with seven while ranking third with a .364 batting average.
Bailey has been the Cowboys' starting shortstop in six games, and is coming off a three-game stretch vs. Cal Poly in which he went 4-for-10 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.
Another newcomer, freshman Jason Hursh, has found himself in the weekend rotation as the Cowboys' Sunday starter.
A right-hander and former sixth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Hursh is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in his first two collegiate starts.
Putting Up Zeroes
OSU's weekend starting pitching rotation of Brad Propst, Andrew Heaney and Jason Hursh did not allow a run in 19.0 innings of work against Bryant.
The trio also combined for 13 strikeouts, and the Bulldogs' combined batting average against them was .191.
Propst and Heaney were key parts of shutout wins in the first two games of the series. In fact, Bryant did not score over the first 25.1 innings of the series and managed just one run total.
Heaney continued his scoreless stretch against Cal Poly as he blanked the Mustangs for eight innings. He allowed just four hits in that game, and opponents are now hitting just .118 against him thus far in 2011.
OSU sports a 2.43 team ERA, which ranks second in the Big 12, and opponents are hitting just .238 against Cowboy hurlers.
Short Hops
• The Cowboys are hitting .322 (28-for-87) with runners in scoring position.
• OSU sophomore Dane Phillips is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with an .821 slugging percentage. The Cowboys rank fourth in the league with a .481 team slugging percentage.
• Through the first seven games, seven different position players have made their OSU debuts while eight different pitchers have toed the pitching rubber for the first time as Cowboys.
