Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Look To Extend Win Streak In Lubbock
May 02, 2013 | Cowboy Baseball
May 2, 2013
#19 Oklahoma State (32-11, 7-7)
at Texas Tech (21-24, 6-12)
Friday, May 3, 6:37 p.m.
Saturday, May 4, 6:36 p.m.
Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m.
Lubbock, Texas • Dan Law Field (4,368)
Oklahoma State
Riding the momentum of a five-game winning streak that includes a 4-0 showing at the TD Ameritrade Classic last week in Omaha, Oklahoma State returns to Big 12 Conference action this weekend when the Cowboys travel to Lubbock, Texas, to battle Texas Tech at Dan Law Field. The 19th-ranked Cowboys are 32-11 overall, and their 7-7 Big 12 mark has them sixth in the league standings.
The Cowboys rank third in the Big 12 with a .294 batting average, while their 2.80 team ERA is the third lowest in the league.
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 for the Cowboys in the 1990s.
The Cowboys are coming off a 2012 season in which they 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.
About Texas Tech
Texas Tech is 21-24 overall and in eighth place in the Big 12 standings with a 6-12 mark. Led by Jake Barrios (.326, 3 HR, 35 RBI), the Red Raiders are hitting .253, while the pitching staff sports a 4.72 ERA.
OSU is 33-25 all time against Texas Tech. Last season, the Cowboys swept the Red Raiders in a three-game series in Stillwater.
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.
Additionally, both the Friday and Saturday games will be televised live by Fox College Sports. On Friday, Robert Giovannetti and Mike Gustafson will call the action, while Daron Sutton and Preston Wilson will handle those duties Saturday.
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 from 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 D-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 834-189 (.815) all time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only four times (six in a row in 2007; three straight in 2010, 2012 and 2013).
The Cowboys are 22-6 at home in 2013.
Grab A Snickers
After opening the season at New Mexico, the Cowboys didn't go anywhere for a while. On Feb. 19, OSU opened a 26-game homestand -- which finished at 24 after two cancellations -- at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, and the Cowboys did not return to the road until the April 5 contest at Kansas.
In April and May, OSU will play just seven games on its home field.
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.
Coming from behind has continued to be a trend for the Cowboys -- 15 of OSU's wins this season have come in games in which it has trailed.
It's A Walk Off
The Cowboys have picked up four walk-off wins this season, three of those coming within the same week. Three of the victories were of the extra-inning variety.
The first came on March 5 against Missouri State when Randy McCurry drew a bases-loaded walk in the 10th to bring home the winning run. In its series win over Loyola Marymount, OSU had two walk-off wins. In the opener, Tanner Krietemeier delivered a 10th-inning, walk-off home run, and in the series finale, it was a single by Zach Fish that plated the deciding run with two outs in the ninth. The Cowboys also walked off against Wichita State, with Zach Fish's 12th-inning, RBI double giving them the victory.
Awards Watch
Several Cowboys are on watch lists for national awards in 2013, including:
• Sophomore Jason Hursh is one of 60 players on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the nation's top amateur player.
• Junior Vince Wheeland is one of 41 players on the College Baseball Hall of Fame's 2013 Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List.
• Senior Randy McCurry is one of 25 players on the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List.
• Senior Victor Romero is on the Johnny Bench Award Watch List for the top collegiate catcher.
Two-Way Talent
Randy McCurry has proven to be valuable with his arm and his bat during his OSU career and earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors as a utility player a year ago. Now a fifth-year senior, McCurry is continuing that trend in 2013 and has been named to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List.
Used mostly as a reliever during his career, McCurry's 70 appearances are tied for fifth on OSU's all-time list, and he is 12-9 with 12 saves and a 2.84 ERA, with his 12 saves ranking fourth in program history.
His career offensive numbers include 19 doubles, 51 RBIs and a .288 batting average in 86 games.
McCurry is three years removed from Tommy John surgery after he suffered a season-ending elbow injury in OSU's 2010 season opener. As a freshman in 2009, he tied OSU's single-season record with 10 saves.
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 upper 90s in his repertoire, Hursh is listed by Baseball America the as fourth-best prospect in the Big 12 for the 2013 Major League Baseball Draft and came in at No. 22 on MLB.com's list of top draft prospects for this June's draft.
Named to the midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list, Hursh is 4-3 with a 2.61 ERA and two complete games in 11 starts this season, and he has 62 strikeouts in 76.0 innings to rank fourth in the Big 12. During a four-game stretch earlier this season, he tossed 17.2 scoreless innings.
Wheeland And Dealin'
Cowboy junior Vince Wheeland is one of 41 players on the College Baseball Hall of Fame's 2013 Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List.
A right-hander, Wheeland is 8-0 with a save in a team-high 22 appearances this season. His eight wins are tied for the most among Big 12 pitchers, and he is sixth in the league with a 1.82 ERA.
In 59.1 innings of work, Wheeland has recorded 53 strikeouts, which ranks fifth in the Big 12. He also ranks seventh in the league in opponent batting average at .222.
Making A Sacrifice
Freshman Donnie Walton's 12 sacrifice bunts this season are tied for the fourth most in a single season in OSU history and are four shy of Fred Ocasio's school record of 16 set in 1993.
Clutch When It Counts
During its current five-game winning streak, the Cowboys are hitting .407 (22-for-54) with runners in scoring position, and of their 25 RBIs during that span, 12 have come with two outs. On the season, OSU is hitting .309 with runners in scoring position (their opponents are at .229) and have 90 two-out RBIs. With 17 two-out RBIs, Zach Fish leads a group of five Cowboys who have double-digit two-out RBI totals.
Dynamic Duo
A big reason for the Cowboys' huge offensive numbers is the production of a two-headed monster in the middle of the lineup in the form of Tanner Krietemeier and Zach Fish.
Krietemeier's .359 batting average leads the Cowboys and ranks fourth in the Big 12, and the junior first baseman ranks among the top 10 in the conference in hits (61), runs (35), doubles (13), RBIs (35), total bases (87) and slugging percentage (.512).
Fish, a sophomore, is hitting .301 and ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in home runs (6), doubles (15), RBIs (36), total bases (87) and slugging percentage (.503).
Want more superlatives from this duo?
• Krietemeier has hit safely in 37 of OSU's 43 games this season.
• Krietemeier had an 18-game hitting streak snapped in the second game of the Texas series. The streak was the longest by an OSU player since 2008 (Rebel Ridling, 20). During the streak, he hit .361 (26-for-72) with three homers, five doubles, 16 RBIs and a .583 slugging percentage.
• Krietemeier has 18 multi-hit games to lead the Cowboys, while Fish's 15 are tied for second.
• Krietemeier is hitting .431 (28-for-65) with runners in scoring position.
• Fish leads the Cowboys with 10 multi-RBI games and has collected four RBIs in a game twice.
• Fish was named the Big 12 Player of the Week (March 18) and NCBWA National Hitter of the Week (March 19) after hitting .600 (12-for-20) with eight RBIs in five games during the week of March 11-17.
Strong-Armed
OSU has also been impressive on the mound in 2013, led by veterans Randy McCurry and Vince Wheeland along with newcomers Tyler Nurdin, Mark Robinette, Brendan McCurry, Alex Hackerott and Kyle Gehrs.
• OSU sports a 2.80 team ERA, which ranks third in the Big 12, and 10 Cowboy hurlers with at least seven appearances have an ERA of 3.73 or lower.
• Vince Wheeland is 8-0 and also has a save. His eight wins are tied for the most in the Big 12 in 2013.
• Wheeland's 1.82 ERA ranks sixth in the league, while Tyler Nurdin's 1.95 ERA is seventh.
• Brendan McCurry is 6-2 with a 1.04 ERA, and his six saves rank fourth in the Big 12. He allowed only one earned run in his 14 first outings (22.2 IP) before giving up three in the ninth in a loss at TCU.
• Hackerott has not allowed a run in 16.0 innings. He is 1-0 with 16 strikeouts in 12 appearances.
Thievery
A year ago, OSU's opponents stole over twice as many bases (77) as the Cowboys (38). Things are quite different in 2013 as the Cowboys have already racked up 61 steals and their opponents just 30. Gage Green leads the Cowboys with 12 stolen bases, while Zach Fish has swiped nine.
In The Polls
OSU has been ranked in at least one national poll for nine-straight weeks. The Cowboys peaked at No. 18 in both the USA Today and NCBWA polls on March 25.
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Cowboy Baseball
LHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
OF/C
/ Cowboy Baseball
LHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
RHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
1B/RHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
LHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
INF
/ Cowboy Baseball
RHP
/ Cowboy Baseball
C
/ Cowboy Baseball
INF
/ Cowboy Baseball
RHP
/ Cowboy BaseballFriday, June 05
Friday, May 29
Wednesday, May 27
Monday, May 18
