Cowboys Headed To Tulsa For Big 12 Championship

#2-seed Oklahoma State (34-17) at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

Wed., May 20-Sun., May 24

ONEOK Field (7,833)
Tulsa, Okla.

Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State enters the 2015 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship as the tourney's No. 2 seed and opens double-elimination play Wednesday against No. 7-seed West Virginia at 7:30 p.m. at Tulsa's ONEOK Field. The 11th-ranked Cowboys are 34-17 overall and finished the season with a 14-8 Big 12 mark, winning six conference series.

OSU is 13-7 against ranked teams this season and checks in at No. 13 in the latest official NCAA RPI. The Cowboys had five scheduled games canceled due to weather in 2015.

The Cowboys rank second in the Big 12 in ERA and third in batting average. Led by Ryan Sluder, they sport a .280 team batting average, while the pitching staff owns a 2.97 ERA 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.

Cowboys At The Big 12 Championship
Oklahoma State is making its 17th appearance at the Big 12 Baseball Championship and owns a 17-32 all-time record in the tournament. The Cowboys advanced to the title game last season as the tourney's top seed, where they fell to second-seeded TCU. OSU won its lone Big 12 Championship title in 2004, defeating Missouri 10-9 in 13 innings in Arlington, Texas.

OSU is the No. 2 seed and in Division Two of this year's double-elimination Big 12 tournament field, along with third-seeded Oklahoma, sixth-seeded Kansas State and seventh-seeded West Virginia. The Cowboys are 5-3 against teams in their division this season -- 3-1 vs. OU, 2-1 vs. K-State and 0-1 vs. WVU.

The teams in Division One of the tournament include top-seeded TCU, No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 5 Texas and No. 8 Baylor.

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, with Matt "Chief" Davis providing color commentary. Radio broadcasts are also available online for a fee at www.okstate.com, with links available under the Schedule tab on the baseball home page.

Live stats for all Big 12 Championship games can be found at www.Big12Sports.com, with links available on the tournament home page. Additionally, fans can follow the official OSU Baseball twitter page, @OSUBaseball, for in-game updates.

All games of the tourney will be televised live on Fox College Sports and are also available via the Fox Sports Go app. Sunday's title game will air on Fox Sports 1.

In The Polls
OSU is ranked as high 11th nationally, earning that spot in this week's USA Today Coaches, D1Baseball.com and NCBWA polls. The Cowboys are ranked 12th by Baseball America, 13th by Perfect Game and 14th by Collegiate Baseball.

OSU has been ranked in at least one national poll for 47 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.

2,500 Club
With its series-opening win over Baylor, Oklahoma State became just the 18th program in Division I history to reach 2,500 victories. Of those achieving 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.

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 15 comeback wins 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.

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 to Oregon State in the opener 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. In 2015, the Cowboys are 4-4 in one-run games and 2-8 in two-run contests.

Coming Up Clutch
OSU is hitting .303 (190-for-627) with runners in scoring position this season, and of the Cowboys' 312 RBIs, 135 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 fourth nationally with 68 sac bunts this season, with Green's 17 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 .385 on-base percentage this season and rank 15th nationally with 259 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 149 appearances, and the OSU bullpen is 15-6 with eight saves, a 2.88 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 209.1 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 51 games in 2015, OSU owns a 2.97 team ERA, the 16th-lowest in the NCAA, has recorded four shutouts and ranks third in the Big 12 with an average of 7.91 strikeouts per nine innings. In 22 conference games, the Cowboys' pitching staff compiled a league-best 2.50 ERA and opponents hit just .230 against them.

Thievery
Oklahoma State ranks second in the Big 12 and 35th nationally with 79 stolen bases. Three Cowboys -- Gage Green, Conor Costello and Corey Hassel -- rank in the top 10 in the league in steals, with Green's 17 third in the conference.

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.

Versatile, Dependable, Productive
All those adjectives can be used to describe Cowboy senior Gage Green. A year ago, the Texan led OSU with a .310 batting average and 20 stolen bases while turning in a .392 on-base percentage and recording 24 multi-hit games. He also ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 with 74 hits.

And it's a safe bet that Green is one of a very few collegiate players -- and likely the only one -- splitting time between catcher and the outfield. Of his 62 starts during his junior season, 25 were behind the plate, 23 were in center field and 14 came in left field. He was named to the All-Big 12 First Team as a catcher.

Green has continued his musical chairs of positions in 2015, starting 25 games at catcher, 21 in left field, four in center field and one in right field, and he is hitting .286 with five homers while leading the Cowboys with 17 stolen bases and 13 multi-hit games. He ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in stolen bases and triples (3) and is third nationally with 17 sacrifice bunts.

Hawaiian Punch
Tim Arakawa proved to be quite a clutch hitter in his first season in a Cowboy uniform in 2014, and that ability resulted in 13 multi-RBI games and 44 RBIs overall for the Honolulu native, helping him earn All-Big 12 Second Team honors.

Arakawa put the Cowboys ahead on the scoreboard with RBIs 16 times last year, and on eight of those occasions, he either drove in what proved to be the winning runs or were walk-off runs. On three other occasions, he collected game-tying RBIs in contests that OSU went on to win.

Arakawa also finished the season ranked second in the Big 12 and 11th nationally in walks (47).

In 2015, Arakawa has continued his production at the plate. He hit safely in OSU's first 13 games and is hitting .293 with a team-high 35 RBIs on the season. He also leads the Big 12 with 11 multi-RBI games.

Making A Sacrifice
Donnie Walton has rewritten the OSU record books for sacrifice bunting. As a freshman in 2013, he set the program's single-season record with 18, and he broke that a year ago with 22. The 40 sac bunts in only two seasons vaulted him to the top of OSU's career chart, besting the previous mark of Fred Ocasio, who finished his career in 1994 with 36.

Walton has 10 sac bunts in 32 games this season, bringing his career total to 50.

Big Mike
Mike Freeman is having a breakout senior season for the Cowboys.

One of 30 players on the watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to baseball's top amateur player, the 6-foot-8 southpaw has solidified a spot in OSU's weekend rotation and in 13 starts is 9-2 with a 1.06 ERA. He leads the Big 12 with 93.2 innings pitched, three complete games and a .183 opponent batting average and ranks second in wins, ERA and strikeouts (85). Following his first start of the season at Arizona State (Feb. 15), he has allowed just seven earned runs in 84.0 innings (0.71 ERA) over his last 12 starts, and he ranks fourth nationally in ERA.

In Big 12 play, Freeman was 5-2 with three complete games and a 0.80 ERA in seven starts and recorded 49 strikeouts in 56 innings. In his only losses, he allowed just one earned run combined as the Cowboys lost those games 3-2 and 2-1.

Freeman tied a record by capturing Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors four times this season -- March 2, 23 and 30 and April 27 -- to become one of only three pitchers in Big 12 history to achieve that feat (West Virginia's Harrison Musgrave in 2013 and Texas A&M's Ryan Rupe in 1998).

Freeman's first weekly honor came following his performance in a win over Western Illinois in which he recorded a career-high 10 strikeouts in eight innings of work. In that contest, he was dominant throughout and nearly unhittable as he retired 23-straight hitters after WIU reached on an error to lead off the game and did not give up a hit through 7 2/3 innings.

The big lefty turned in an even better performance at TCU, tossing his first-career complete game in the series finale against the top-ranked Horned Frogs and leading the Cowboys to a series win as he racked up nine strikeouts and allowed only one earned run in OSU's 7-2 victory.

Freeman continued his dominance on the mound in a series-clinching win over Kansas State as he went 8 1/3 innings without allowing a hit before surrendering a pair of singles in the ninth and became the first Cowboy pitcher since All-American Andrew Heaney in 2012 to toss back-to-back complete games.

In a win at No. 18 Texas Tech, Freeman matched a career high with 10 Ks and did not surrender an earned run in eight innings of work. He did not allow a hit for the first 5 1/3 innings and at one point retired 12-straight Red Raiders.

5-3, 6-3, 4-3, 3U, 1-3
To say Michael Freeman is a ground ball pitcher is like saying grass is green and the sky is blue.

Of Freeman's non-strikeout outs this season, 145 have come via ground ball and only 37 via fly out, and he has induced nine ground ball double plays. Factor in his 85 strikeouts, and 86 percent of Freeman's outs have come via ground ball or strikeout.

Back In The Saddle
A wrist injury kept Donnie Walton out of the OSU lineup for most of the first half of the season as the Cowboys' All-Big 12 First Team shortstop played in just five of the Pokes first 24 games in 2015.

Walton started and played the first 7 1/2 innings of OSU's season opener at Arizona State on Feb. 13, then was used briefly as a pinch runner in the eighth inning the following day before going on the shelf.

On Feb. 24, Walton underwent surgery to remove the hamate bone in his right wrist. After missing 18 games, Walton returned to action in the opener at TCU on March 20 when he was inserted into the game at shortstop in the eighth inning. In Sunday's game against the Frogs, he returned to the starting lineup, filling in at second base for an injured Tim Arakawa.

Walton returned to the starting lineup at shortstop for the K-State series and was 4-for-10 with three RBIs. He is hitting .315 with three homers and 23 RBIs in 32 games on the year.

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 is second on the Pokes with a .312 batting average. In Big 12 play, Hassel hit .344 with two home runs and 18 RBIs and led OSU in numerous offensive categories, including RBIs, hits (31) and doubles (6).

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.

Sluder's Sophomore Surge
Another breakout star for the Cowboys in 2015 is outfielder Ryan Sluder, who hit .284 with 67 at-bats in 35 games as a freshman a year ago.

This season, Sluder leads OSU with a .316 batting average, 13 doubles and six homers in 43 games (37 starts), and he went on a tear in Big 12 Conference play. In league games, he led OSU with a .403 average -- the highest in the league in Big 12 games -- to go along with five homers, 10 RBIs and a .710 slugging percentage.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Related News

Related Videos