Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Set For Rematch With Oral Roberts
April 13, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State opens a five-game homestand Tuesday night when the 10th-ranked Cowboys host Oral Roberts at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. The Cowboys are 24-11 on the season and tied with Oklahoma atop the Big 12 Conference standings with an 8-4 league mark. Following the midweek contest, OSU returns to league play this weekend against Baylor.
OSU ranks in the top three in the Big 12 in both batting average and ERA. Led by Corey Hassel, the Cowboys sport a .286 team batting average, which is third in the conference, while the pitching staff owns a 2.38 ERA to rank second and has eight hurlers who have posted a sub-3.00 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 Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts has won five games in a row and 14 of its last 15 and brings a 24-10 record into Tuesday's game. The Golden Eagles own a collective .315 batting average, while the pitching staff sports a 3.20 ERA.
Expected to start on the mound for ORU is senior right-hander Colin Hightower, who is 1-0 with a 1.84 ERA in 11 appearances this season.
OSU is 34-30 all time against Oral Roberts. On March 31, the Golden Eagles knocked off OSU by a 4-2 count on their home field in Tulsa.
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 six polls this week and is also in the top 10 for a second-straight week, earning a No. 10 ranking from Collegiate Baseball. The Cowboys are ranked 13th in the NCBWA poll, 14th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, 15th by D1Baseball.com and 17th by Baseball America and Perfect Game.
OSU has been ranked in at least one national poll for 42 consecutive weeks dating back to 2013, when the Cowboys were in the polls for the final 14 weeks of the season, and on March 6, they had an 11-week streak of being in the top 10 snapped. 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 one win shy of becoming only the 17th program in Division I history to reach 2,500 victories. Of the 15 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.
The Century Mark
In his third season as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday became the sixth skipper to record 100 career wins at Oklahoma State. Holliday's 100th win came against Grand Canyon in his 143rd game, making him the second-fastest Cowboy boss to reach 100 victories.
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 876-203 (.812) 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 are 15-3 on their home field in 2015.
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 nine comeback wins this season.
We're Going Streaking
Oklahoma State's series win against Texas earlier this season extended its program-record streak of Big 12 Conference series victories to 10. The Cowboys won their first three conference series this season, and en route to the first Big 12 regular season championship in program history last season, they captured series wins in their final seven league series, marking the first time in school history OSU had won seven-straight Big 12 series in a season.
OSU has won eight consecutive conference series just twice since Big 12 play began in 1997. Over the 2006-07 seasons, OSU captured eight-straight Big 12 series, winning the final six in '06 and the first two of '07.
Coming Up Clutch
OSU is hitting .314 (139-for-443) with runners in scoring position this season, and of the Cowboys' 215 RBIs, 93 of those (43 percent) have come with two outs.
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. OSU ranks sixth nationally with 45 sac bunts this season, with Jacob Chappell's 10 leading the Cowboys.
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 Big 12-best .383 on-base percentage this season and rank 17th nationally with 167 walks.
The Pen Is 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).
That trend has continued in 2015 as 13 relievers have combined for 97 appearances, and the OSU bullpen is 11-3 with six saves, a 2.05 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 149.0 innings.
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 turned in an ERA of 3.00 or less.
Through 35 games in 2015, OSU owns a 2.38 team ERA, the sixth-lowest in the NCAA, has recorded four shutouts and ranks third in the Big 12 with an average of 8.08 strikeouts per nine innings. In a dozen Big 12 games, the Cowboys' pitching staff has compiled a 1.92 ERA and opponents are hitting just .219 against them.
Thievery
Oklahoma State ranks second in the Big 12 and 25th nationally with 55 stolen bases. Two Cowboys --Gage Green and Conor Costello -- rank in the top 10 in the league in steals, with Green's 15 tied for the conference lead.
OSU has not recorded 100 stolen bases in a season since 1999 (117), and Green is vying to become the first Cowboy to record 20 steals in back-to-back seasons since Billy Gasparino in 1997-98.
Hometown Hero
Corey Hassel played in 86 games in his first two seasons at OSU, but the Stillwater native is having a breakout junior campaign for his hometown Cowboys in 2015.
Used mostly as a late-game defensive replacement and pinch runner in 2013 and 2014, Hassel has become a regular starter in the outfield and leads the Pokes with a .340 batting average, which ranks 10th in the Big 12. Hassel also ranks 10th in the conference with a .490 slugging percentage, and in Big 12 play, he's hitting .378 with nine RBIs and leads OSU in numerous offensive categories, including hits (17) and total bases (25).
Hassel was the hero in OSU's series-opening win over Texas as he delivered a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning and also earned his first-career win on the mound with three strikeouts in three scoreless innings of work.
Short Hops
OSU is 7-5 against ranked teams this season ... The Cowboys check in at No. 12 in this week's official NCAA RPI.
