Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Host Missouri State In 2015 Home Opener
February 24, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball
#10 Oklahoma State (4-3) vs. Missouri State (4-1)
Wed., Feb. 25 • 4 p.m. Allie P. Reynolds Stadium
(4,000) Stillwater, Okla.
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State takes the field at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium Wednesday afternoon when the Cowboys host Missouri State in their 2015 home opener at 4 p.m. Admission to the game is free for all fans. OSU has won 10 consecutive home openers dating back to 2004.
The 10th-ranked Cowboys are 4-3 on the season and carry a three-game winning streak in to Wednesday's game, a streak during which they are averaging 11 runs and 13.3 hits per game. OSU enters the matchup with a .312 team batting average, while its pitching staff sports a 3.48 ERA.
The Cowboys are in their third season under head coach Josh Holliday, and the defending Big 12 Conference champions are coming off a year in which they went 48-18, advanced to an NCAA Super Regional and finished 10th in the national rankings. Five position players who made at least 29 starts last season return in 2015, as do 12 members of the pitching staff. Among that group are All-Big 12 performers Gage Green, Donnie Walton, Jon Perrin and Tim Arakawa.
About Missouri State
Missouri State is 4-1 on the season, and the Bears are hitting .309 overall and own a collective 2.03 ERA. Expected to start on the mound for MSU is sophomore left-hander Jordan Knutson, who has worked two innings in two relief appearances this season without allowing an earned run.
OSU is 10-6 all time against Missouri State. The two teams met twice last season, both playing on the other's home field in a midweek contest, with the Cowboys claiming victories in both games -- a 6-0 win in Springfield on March 18 and a 3-2 win in 11 innings in Stillwater one week later.
Watch, Listen, Follow
All OSU baseball games are carried live by Stillwater Radio and air on KSPI 93.7 FM or 780 AM. Rex Holt, who is in his 33rd season on the air with Cowboy baseball, will call the action, while Matt "Chief" Davis will provide color for most home games. Radio broadcasts are also available to online for a fee at www.okstate.com, with links available under the Schedule tab on the baseball home page.
Live stats for all games can be found at www.okstate.com, with links available under the Schedule tab on the baseball home page. Additionally, fans can follow the official OSU Baseball twitter page, @OSUBaseball, for in-game updates.
All OSU home games not being televised will stream live online at www.okstate.tv (there is a subscription fee required to watch).
In The Polls
OSU is nationally ranked in five polls this week and is as high as No. 10 by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. The Cowboys are also ranked 16th by the NCBWA and 19th by D1Baseball.com. (Note: A USA Today Coaches Poll has not been released this week; OSU was ranked seventh in that preseason poll).
OSU has been ranked in at least one national poll for 35 consecutive weeks dating back to 2013, when OSU was in the polls for the final 14 weeks of the season, and they have now occupied a spot in the top 10 for 10-straight weeks. They were ranked as high as No. 3 (NCBWA) in 2014 and finished the season ranked 10th in each of the final polls, marking the 19th time in program history OSU ended the season in the top 10 in the national polls.
Countdown to 2,500
Oklahoma State is just 21 wins shy of becoming only the 15th program in Division I history to reach 2,500 victories. Of the 13 who have achieved that feat, only one has played fewer season's than OSU's 104 (Florida State with 68).
OSU entered the 2015 season ranked sixth all time in NCAA history with a .665 winning percentage.
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since April 4, 1981, and in those 34 seasons, the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field. OSU is 861-200 (.811) all time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only five times (six in a row in 2007; three straight in 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014).
The Cowboys were 25-10 at home in 2014.
Comeback Cowboys
Come-from-behind victories have become a trend for the Cowboys under Josh Holliday. OSU overcame deficits to win 46 games over the last two seasons, notching 28 comeback wins a year ago and 18 such triumphs in 2013, and the Pokes have one comeback win (vs. Utah) this season.
Winning Ways
Oklahoma State's 48 wins in 2014 marked its highest total since the 1994 Cowboys had 49. The program's last 50-win season came in 1990 (56). The Cowboys' 48 wins tied for the fifth most in the NCAA in 2014, and at 48-16, their .727 winning percentage ranked eighth nationally.
I Feel A Draft
OSU has 10 players on its 2015 roster who have been Major League Baseball Draft picks: Kevin Bradley (2012, Colorado, 36th round), Conor Costello (2011, Cincinnati, 16th), Thomas Hatch (2013, Colorado, 32nd), Jon Littell (2014, Washington, 39th), Tyler Nurdin (2011, Cleveland, 28th), Jon Perrin (2014, Detroit, 33rd), David Petrino (2014, Chicago Cubs, 39th), Andrew Rosa (2013, Boston, 30th), Donnie Walton (2012, NY Mets, 36th) and Garrett Williams (2013, San Diego, 33rd).
Big 12's Best
Oklahoma State captured the 31st conference championship in program history in 2014, winning the Big 12 Conference regular season title for the first time in history (the Cowboys won a Big 12 tourney title in 2004). Josh Holliday became the first-ever Cowboy boss to earn Big 12 Coach of the Year honors, while junior Zach Fish became OSU's second Big 12 Player of the Year and was one of 11 Cowboys to earn All-Big 12 accolades.
Four players named All-Big 12 last season return in 2015 -- catcher Gage Green, infielder Donnie Walton and pitcher Jon Perrin, who were each first-team honorees, and infielder Tim Arakawa, who was a second-team selection.
The Cowboys also return a pair of pitchers -- Blake Battenfield and Tyler Buffett --- who were named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2014.
Close Calls
OSU went 1-3 in its first four games of the season, but those four games were decided by a combined total of six runs. The Cowboys played a pair of one-run contests against Arizona State, with OSU going 1-1 in those, while the Sun Devils also claimed a two-run victory. OSU also lost a 5-3 contest against Oregon State in the opening game of the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge.
OSU was 11-1 in one-run ball games last season and 11-3 in contests decided by two runs.
Coming Up Clutch
OSU is hitting .337 (30-for-89) with runners in scoring position this season, and of the Cowboys' 47 RBIs, 22 of those have come with two outs.
New Faces Impress Early
Joining Oklahoma State's 34-man roster for 2015 are 13 newcomers, eight of those from the high school ranks and five coming via the junior college route.
The recruiting class, which was ranked as high as No. 5 nationally by one publication, boasts numerous players already having immediate impacts, including:
• Junior college pitchers Koda Glover and Remey Reed have showed why they're expected to bolster the OSU pitching staff. Reed is 1-0 in three appearances and has worked three scoreless innings, while Glover has settled into the Cowboys' closer role and has a save in three appearances.
• Sophomore Kevin Bradley, the son of former big leaguer and current Princeton head coach Scott Bradley, redshirted last season at State College of Florida after playing in 37 games at Clemson in 2013. He was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 16 and is hitting .391 with a team-high eight RBIs on the season.
• Freshman Jon Littell was a prep All-American at Stillwater High School and joined his hometown Cowboys after being drafted in the 39th round by Washington. He has started all seven games in the outfield and is hitting .360; he earned Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week honors Feb. 23 after hitting .429 (6-for-14) with five RBIs in four games at the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge.
• Jacob Chappell has started on the infield in each of OSU's seven games this season. The freshman made his debut at third base and moved to shortstop for the next six, where he is filling the void of the injured Donnie Walton.
Small Ball
OSU has smashed program records for sacrifice bunts each of the last two years. A year ago, the Cowboys were third nationally with 88 sacrifice bunts, which trumped the 2013 team's 74 sac bunts to set a program record. Donnie Walton ranked fourth in the NCAA in 2014 with 22 sac bunts, while Gage Green tallied 11.
The Cowboys have seven sac bunts this season, and Jacob Chappell ranks ninth nationally with three.
Power Surge
In 2014, OSU led the Big 12 and was eighth nationally with 53 home runs, and 14 different Cowboys homered. OSU's 53 homers was 23 more than the next-highest Big 12 team.
While the Cowboys' top-two home run hitters from a year ago (Zach Fish and Tanner Krietmeier) are gone, nine players who combined for 29 round trippers return in 2015, led by Conor Costello who had nine.
Strong-Armed
In two seasons under the direction of coach Rob Walton, OSU's pitching staff has turned in some impressive numbers. In 2013, the Cowboys' 3.04 team ERA was the lowest by an OSU pitching staff since 1973. They followed that last season by ranking second in the Big 12 in strikeouts (479) and saves (21), and in the Cowboys' 24 conference games, the staff recorded a league-best 2.43 ERA with Big 12 opponents only hitting .232 against them. OSU recorded seven shutouts in both 2013 and 2014, marking just the fourth and fifth times in program history the Cowboys had reached that mark. In the 26 seasons prior to 2013, the program had reached seven shutouts only once. Over the last two seasons, OSU has also had a pitcher drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft (Jason Hursh in 2013) and a hurler earn consensus All-America honors (Brendan McCurry). The Cowboys return eight pitchers in 2015 who combined for 30 of OSU's 48 wins a year ago. Of those eight, four of them turned in an ERA of 3.00 or less.
The Pen Was Mighty
OSU's bullpen was the strength of its pitching staff in 2014 as Cowboy relievers combined to go 31-2 with 21 saves in 187 relief appearances. The bullpen racked up 286 strikeouts in 322.0 innings of relief and allowed only 87 earned runs (for a 2.43 ERA).
Among the Cowboys' top returners in the bullpen in 2015 are Blake Battenfield, Alex Hackerott and Trey Cobb, who combined for eight wins in 73 appearances last season.
Ball Four, Take Your Base
OSU ranked seventh out of nine Big 12 teams in batting average (.275) last season, but the Cowboys led the league with a .385 on-base percentage. The reason? OSU topped the conference and ranked second nationally with 324 walks, 36 more than the next-highest Big 12 team.
The Cowboys sport a .413 on-base percentage this season, second highest in the Big 12, and are averaging over five walks per game.
