Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Head South For Three Games In Auburn
February 26, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball
Sat., Feb. 28 • 3 p.m.
Oklahoma State
Winners of four games in a row, Oklahoma State travels to Auburn, Ala., for three games at Plainsman Park this weekend. The 10th-ranked Cowboys, who are 5-3 on the season, were originally scheduled to host Western Illinois in a three-game weekend series in Stillwater, but the threat of inclement weather forced a change. OSU will now face Western Illinois on Friday and Sunday in Auburn and take on the Tigers in a Saturday contest.
Led by Tim Arakawa and Gage Green, who are both hitting .387, OSU enters the weekend with a .302 team batting average, while the pitching staff owns a 3.30 ERA and has seven hurlers sporting an ERA of 3.00 or less.
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 The Opponents
Western Illinois is 0-3 on the season after being swept in a series at Middle Tennessee State. OSU is 23-2 all time against WIU, with the Cowboys sweeping a two-game midweek series when the two last met in Stillwater in 2010.
Auburn is 7-2 and brings a five-game winning streak into the weekend. OSU won its only previous meeting against the Tigers, which came at the 1993 NCAA Midwest Regional in Stillwater and resulted in a 14-10 victory for the Cowboys.
Watch, Listen, Follow
All OSU baseball games are carried live by Stillwater Radio and air on KSPI 93.7 FM or 780 AM, with Rex Holt, who is in his 33rd season on the air with Cowboy baseball, calling the action. Radio broadcasts are also available online for a subscription 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.
Saturday's game vs. Auburn will air live on the SEC Network+.
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 20 wins shy of becoming only the 15th program in Division I history to reach 2,500 victories. Of the 14 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.
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 (and coaching Josh in his final three collegiate seasons). Tom is currently in his first season as the associate head coach at Auburn.
Josh's younger brother, Matt, is an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 11 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.
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's 89 wins over the 2013-14 seasons were the most in the Big 12 Conference during that span, 12 more than the next highest team (TCU). The 89 wins also ranked 12th nationally.
Big 12's Best, Part II
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 .340 (33-for-97) with runners in scoring position this season, and of the Cowboys' 51 RBIs, 23 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 four 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 .360 with a team-high nine 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 eight games in the outfield and is hitting .345; 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 eight games this season. The freshman made his debut at third base and moved to shortstop for the next seven, where he is filling the void of the injured Donnie Walton.
![Image Taken at [event name], [day], [month date], [year], [venue], [city]. Brayden Hartmann/OSU Athletics](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Fokstate.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F4%2F20%2FConover_celebration_vs._Kansas.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
