Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Open Big 12 Play At Mizzou
March 22, 2012 | Cowboy Baseball
March 22, 2012
Oklahoma State (12-9) at Missouri (12-7)
Friday, March 23, 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 24, 6 p.m.
Sunday, March 25, 1 p.m.
Taylor Stadium (3,031) • Columbia, Mo.
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State opens Big 12 Conference play this weekend when the Cowboys travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on Missouri. OSU, which is 12-9 on the season, is opening conference play on the road for the eighth-straight year. Led by Robbie Rea and his .333 average, OSU is hitting .278 as a team, while the pitching staff sports a 3.07 ERA. With a host of newcomers on the roster, 17 different players have made their OSU baseball debuts in 2012.
The Cowboys are coming off a 2011 season in which they were 35-25, including finishing fourth in the Big 12 Conference standings at 14-12, and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament Nashville Regional.
OSU head coach Frank Anderson is entering his ninth season at the helm of the Cowboys and has led the club to 309 wins and six NCAA Tournament appearances in his career.
The Cowboys are led by a senior class that includes All-Big 12 performers Jared Womack and Gabe Weidenaar, along with three-year starter Mark Ginther.
About Missouri
Winners of 10 of its last 12 games, Missouri is 12-7 on the season, including a 10-3 mark on its home field. The Tigers are hitting .273, while their pitching staff sports a 4.42 ERA.
Expected to start on the mound this weekend for Mizzou are: Fri. - LHP Rob Zastryzny, 2-1, 4.78 Sat. - LHP Blake Holovach, 3-0, 2.70 Sun. - TBA
OSU is 129-66 all time against Missouri. Last season, the Cowboys swept the three-game series with Mizzou in Stillwater but lost to the Tigers in the Big 12 Championship.
Watch, Listen, Follow
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 30th season with Cowboy baseball, will call the action, with Matt "Chief" Davis providing color commentary.
GameTracker live stats for all games can be found at www.okstate.com. Additionally, live online video and audio for all home games not televised can be accessed at www.okstate.com (there is a fee involved with this service). Video/audio/live stats links are all available on the OSU baseball page under Schedule.
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since 1981, and in those 31-plus seasons the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.
OSU is 799-179 (.817) 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 are 11-3 at home in 2012.
300 Club
With the Cowboys' series opening win over Bowling Green State, OSU head coach Frank Anderson become just 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.
In his ninth season at OSU, Anderson owns a career record of 309-192, which includes a 110-102 Big 12 mark.
New Faces
OSU's 35-man 2012 roster includes 24 newcomers -- 16 junior college transfers, seven high school players and a Division I transfer.
The group includes JUCO All-Americans Victor Romero and Robbie Rea, as well as Jarrett Higgins, who had a record 64 stolen bases in two seasons at San Jacinto JC.
A talented freshman class includes high school All-American Zach Fish, a 24th-round pick in last year's MLB Draft after hitting 47 home runs as a prep, and Gage Green, a versatile player who can play multiple positions and who hit nearly .500 during his senior season at Rider HS in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Arizona State transfer Kyle Ottoson is a four-time MLB Draft pick who is currently in the Cowboys' weekend starting pitching rotation.
Seniority
Despite the influx of newcomers and youth, OSU has a strong senior class of six proven players.
• Third baseman Mark Ginther is a career .300 hitter who started 148 games for the Cowboys in his first three seasons.
• Shortstop Hunter Bailey started 59 games at year ago and was one of the Cowboys' top hitters down the stretch.
• Catcher Jared Womack and utility player/relief pitcher Gabe Weidenaar were both 2011 All-Big 12 Second Team selections.
• Blake Barnes' 23 relief appearances were second-most on the team last season.
• Transfer Kyle Ottoson was 3-1 in 15 appearances with Arizona State in 2011.
Aluminum Assault
Over the last decade, OSU has established itself among the top hitting clubs in the Big 12.
In the last seven seasons, OSU has led the conference in home runs five times. During that same span, the Cowboys have twice topped the league in batting average and finished second on four occasions.
A month into the 2012 season, the Cowboys lead the Big 12 in homers with 19 and rank second in slugging percentage (.418).
Strong Armed
OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 with a 3.07 ERA, and the Cowboys lead the league with 198 strikeouts and four shutouts. They also rank second nationally with 9.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
In 2011, the Cowboys turned in a 3.79 ERA, the lowest for an OSU team since 1974. That staff also tossed seven shutouts, the most by an OSU group since 1986.
In 2012, the Cowboys return six pitchers who were part of a shutout last season, and of the five returners who made at least 10 appearances a year ago, four of them sported an ERA of 3.38 or lower.
Among the returners is junior Andrew Heaney, who has led OSU in wins in each of his first two seasons in Stillwater.
Complete-ly Dominant
With back-to-back shutouts vs. Alabama A&M (March 9) and Houston (March 16), Andrew Heaney became the first OSU pitcher to record consecutive shutouts since Matt Smith in 1998. He is also the first Cowboy since Tyler Lyons in 2008 to turn in two-straight complete games.
Fixture At The Hot Corner
Mark Ginther started 115 straight games for the Cowboys the last two seasons at third base and is back for his senior season after spurning a professional contract with the Chicago White Sox, who drafted him in the 14th round last June.
In 173 career games, Ginther is hitting .306 with 30 home runs and 118 RBIs. With 43 doubles, he needs just four to crack OSU's all-time top 10 in that statistic.
Ginther entered the 2012 season as the Big 12's active career leader in games played (152), at-bats (583), hits (178), triples (7), homers (27), RBIs (110) and total bases (313).
As a junior, Ginther was named honorable mention All-Big 12 after hitting .292 and ranking second on OSU with 10 home runs.
Slinging Southpaw
Junior lefty Andrew Heaney highlights OSU's starting pitching rotation in 2012, and he's off to an impressive start.
In his five starts this season, Heaney is 4-1 with two complete game shutouts and a Big 12-best 0.92 ERA. He has racked up an NCAA-leading 52 strikeouts in 39.0 innings and has set career highs in strikeouts in three of his five outings, with his 13 vs. Alabama A&M his current best.
Heaney has compiled a 16-9 record in 41 career appearances for the Cowboys, including 24 starts. In 2010, he became the first freshman to lead OSU in wins (with 5) since 2001, and a year ago he was 7-4 on the hill.
Over the summer, Heaney was pegged as a top pro prospect in the Cape Cod League after going 4-3 with a 3.38 ERA and racking up 46 strikeouts in 45 innings.
Mr. Versatility
Senior Gabe Weidenaar did a little bit of everything for the Cowboys in 2011, and his versatility should pay dividends again this year.
A native of Montana, Weidenaar was named to the 2011 All-Big 12 Second Team as a utility player. The switch hitter started 54 games in the outfield and one at first base and hit .280, and he also allowed just one earned run in 15 relief appearances on the mound. As a hurler, he ranked second on the team with three saves while compiling a 0.42 ERA and striking out 18 in 21.2 innings.
This season, Weidenaar returns to OSU's outfield (primarily in left) and has also served as the Cowboys' closer.
Record-Setting Rea
JUCO transfer Robbie Rea has been one of OSU's most consistent hitters this season, with seven multi-hit games and three multi-RBI efforts on his resumé.
Rea's brief time in Stillwater was highlighted by a record-setting performance in the first game of a March 10 doubleheader against Alabama A&M. In that contest, the Cowboy second baseman was 5-for-5 at the plate with three home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs.
With the three homers, Rea became just the 10th Cowboy in history to homer three times in a game, a feat that has been achieved just 13 times in OSU history and hadn't been done since 2009.
Rea's 16 total bases also tied a Big 12 record, and his nine RBIs in the game were one short of the OSU record and also fell one shy of the Big 12 record.
Rea leads the Cowboys with a .333 batting average and is among the Big 12 leaders in hits (28), homers (4), doubles (7), RBIs (21), total bases (47) and slugging percentage (.560).
Mowing 'Em Down
To say Chase Stevens has been dominant on the mound is his first season for the Cowboys would be an understatement.
In a team-high eight appearances, Stevens is 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA and has racked up 45 strikeouts in 30.0 innings. A right-hander who came to Stillwater after two years at Seminole State JC, he ranks third nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (13.5) and fourth nationally in strikeouts, and opponents are hitting just .172 against him, which ranks second in the Big 12.
In his first career start, against Dallas Baptist, he struck out 10 in seven innings for the win and followed that by racking up 13 Ks in five innings of relief against Bowling Green State, including a stretch in which he struck out 10-straight Falcons.
Fab Frosh
Zach Fish's first hit as a Cowboy was a grand slam vs. Dallas Baptist, and the freshman from Michigan hasn't slowed down since.
Fish leads OSU in home runs (4), doubles (7) and slugging percentage (.571) and ranks second in RBIs (19) and total bases (44).
A fixture in right field, Field recently had a 14-game hitting streak, the longest in the Big 12 this season. He ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in homers, doubles, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage.
Fellow freshman Wes Jones has started 19 games at first base and is hitting .281 while ranking third on the Pokes with 12 RBIs.
