Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Missouri State In Midweek Tilt
March 04, 2013 | Cowboy Baseball
March 4, 2013
OSU Game Notes - Missouri State
#26 Oklahoma State (9-2)
vs. Missouri State (7-2)
Tuesday, March 5, 4 p.m.
Stillwater, Okla. • Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000)
Oklahoma State
In the midst of a 26-game homestand, Oklahoma State brings a 9-2 record into Tuesday's game against Missouri State at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. The Cowboys entered the national rankings for the first time in 2013 this week as they checked in at No. 26 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.
OSU, which entered the 2013 season as the eighth winningest program in NCAA history with a .664 winning percentage, in its 102nd season of baseball and the program's first under head coach Josh Holliday, a former star at OSU in the 1990s.
OSU is coming off a 2012 season in which the Cowboys finished 32-25 overall, which included coming in fifth in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 13-11 mark.
A pair of All-Big 12 performers in Robbie Rea and Randy McCurry lead a group of 15 returning letterwinners from 2012, while 19 newcomers round out the OSU roster.
The Cowboys were picked by league coaches to finish fifth in the Big 12 race. Oklahoma was tabbed as the favorite.
About Missouri State
Missouri State is coming off a series win against Northwestern State and is 7-2 on the season. Led by Tate Matheny and Luke Voit, the Bears are hitting .261 and sport a team ERA of 2.20.
OSU is 6-6 all time against Missouri State, but the Bears have won five in a row and six of the last eight meetings dating back to 2009. The Bears won both meetings a year ago, picking up a 7-1 win in Stillwater in before a 5-2 triumph in Springfield a week later.
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 31st 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 via okstate.com (a fee is involved with this service). Video/audio/live stats links are all available on the OSU baseball page under Schedule.
Winning
The goal of college baseball coaches and players is to make it to the College World Series in Omaha, and the OSU coaching staff has plenty of experience in that regard.
The Cowboys' staff of Josh Holliday, Rob Walton and Marty Lees has combined to make 12 CWS appearances as either a player or coach.
Holliday played on a pair of CWS teams at OSU (1996 & 1999) and has coached in the CWS as an assistant at Georgia Tech (2006), Arizona State (2009) and Vanderbilt (2011).
Walton spent four seasons as a pitcher at OSU from 1983-86, and each of those Cowboy teams appeared in the CWS.
As an assistant coach at Oregon State, Lees helped lead the Beavers to Omaha three-straight years from 2005-07, with two of those trips resulting in national championships (2006 & 2007).
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
In January, despite his having not yet coached a game, Baseball America named OSU's Josh Holliday the nation's top college head coach under the age of 40. The top 10 list was compiled based on the voting of coaches and scouts.
In addition, Marty Lees came in at No. 6 on Baseball America's list of the nation's top 10 college assistant coaches. That list was compiled by compiling the votes of 70 Division I head coaches across the country, as well as the input of more than a dozen scouts. Coaches with prior Division I head coaching experience, such as OSU pitching coach Rob Walton, were excluded from the list.
Baseball In Their Blood
Baseball -- and Oklahoma State -- is definitely a family affair for Josh Holliday.
Josh's father, Tom, served as an OSU assistant coach for 19 years then took over as the Cowboys' head coach from 1997-2003, leading the program to its last College World Series appearance in 1999. Tom is currently in his seventh season as the associate head coach at North Carolina State
Josh's younger brother, Matt, is an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. In nine major league seasons, Matt has been named to six All-Star teams.
Josh's uncle, Dave Holliday, was an OSU assistant coach from 1981-88 and has since held a variety of roles in Major League Baseball, including his current spot as a professional scout for the Atlanta Braves. Dave's son, Heath, is a senior catcher for the Cowboys this season.
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since 1981, and in those 32 seasons the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.
OSU is 819-184 (.817) all time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only three times (six in a row in May 2007; three straight in 2010 and 2012).
The Cowboys are 7-1 at home in 2013.
Grab A Snickers
After opening the season at New Mexico, the Cowboys won't be going anywhere for a while. On Feb. 19, OSU opened a 26-game homestand at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium as the Cowboys will not return to the road until an April 2 game at Oklahoma.
In April and May, OSU will play just seven games on its home field.
Back On The Bump
Two years ago, Jason Hursh was a highly touted freshman for the Cowboys, coming to Stillwater after a standout prep career that culminated with him being a sixth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2010 Major League Baseball Draft.
In his first collegiate season, the hard-throwing right-hander made 10 appearances, including four starts, and was 1-1 with a 2.73 ERA. But the native Texan was forced to miss the 2012 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Following the successful procedure, Hursh is back for his redshirt sophomore season in 2013 and proving to be one of the aces of the Cowboys' staff. With a fastball in the mid- to upper90s in his repertoire, Hursh is listed by Baseball America as fourth-best prospect in the Big 12 for the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft.
In three starts this season, Hursh is 1-0 with a 2.37 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 19 innings.
Comeback Cowboys & A Little Bit Of Irony
In the second game of the New Mexico series, OSU faced an eight-run deficit after seven innings. Trailing 14-6, the Cowboys rallied for four runs in the eighth and ninth to force extra innings and then won the game with a run in the 13th.
The eight-run deficit marked the largest OSU had overcome to win a game since April 6, 1997, when the Cowboys trailed Texas, 11-0, after 4 1/2 innings in Stillwater before rallying for, ironically, a 15-14 win. Josh Holliday was also a part of that game, playing catcher and third base for the Cowboys and going 1-for-4.
Hot Hitters
After leading OSU to a series win at No. 21 New Mexico on opening weekend, junior Tanner Krietemeier was named the Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Week. The switch-hitter was 6-for-11 with three clutch RBIs against the Lobos and was the only Cowboy to hit safely in all three games -- and he hasn't slowed down since.
Krietemeier's .429 batting average leads the Cowboys and ranks fifth in the Big 12, and he's also among the top five in the conference in hits (18), runs (11), RBIs (12) and OB% (.490).
However, Krietemeier is not the only Cowboy swinging a hot bat.
• Senior catcher Victor Romero leads OSU in homers (3) and RBIs (12) to go along with a .314 batting average. He has four-multi RBI games and is hitting .450 with two homers, eight RBIs and an .850 slugging percentage in OSU's last six games.
• Sophomore utility player Gage Green is hitting .375 on the strength of a recent eight-game hitting streak, the longest by a Cowboy this season.
• Outfielder Zach Fish is hitting .333 with a pair of homers and 10 RBIs, and the sophomore sports a .619 slugging percentage. He has collected four RBIs in a game twice.
• Senior Robbie Rea is hitting .351 and six of his seven RBIs have come with two outs. He's also reached base safely in eight consecutive games.
