Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Oral Roberts
Cowboy Baseball Hosts In-State Showdown With Oral Roberts
April 16, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball
Game Notes
Oklahoma State (20-13-1) vs. Oral Roberts (20-14)
Tues., April 17/6:30 p.m.
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
Video/TV: FOX Sports Plus/FOX Sports GO app (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM/okstate.com/watch (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/okstate/baseball
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
• The Cowboys are 20-13-1 and coming off their third consecutive Big 12 Conference series win as they took two of three games at West Virginia last weekend. OSU is tied atop the Big 12 standings with a 9-3 mark and returns to league action Friday when the Pokes host Kansas.
• OSU is coming off a 2017 season in which it made its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and posted 30-27 record. The Cowboys went 8-14 in conference play a year ago to finish eighth in the standings but made history when they became the first-ever team to win the Big 12 Championship title as a No. 8 seed; OSU swept through the tourney field with a 4-0 mark.
• The Cowboys return six position players who started at least 30 games last season, while nine pitchers who combined for 16 wins return to the staff.
• The 2018 season marks OSU's sixth under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 220-119-1 at his alma mater.
About Oral Roberts
• Winners of three in a row, Oral Roberts is 20-14 on the season, including a 3-9 mark on the road.
• Led by Preseason All-American and reigning Summit League Player of the Year Noah Cummings (.285, 5 HR, 32 RBI) and sophomore Spencer Henson (.376, 4 HR, 40 RBI), the Golden Eagles own a .275 team batting average and are averaging 5.5 runs per game.
• ORU's pitching staff sports a 4.46 ERA and has recorded 309 strikeouts in 296.1 innings.
• Ryan Folmar is in his sixth season as ORU head coach and owns a 197-125 career record. Folmar was a four-year letterwinner at Oklahoma State as a catcher from 1994-97.
• ORU is scheduled to start left-hander Taylor Varnell against the Cowboys. A senior southpaw, Varnell is 2-3 with a 6.30 ERA in seven starts this season and has 40 strikeouts and 16 walks in 30.0 IP. He pitched in all four games against OSU in 2017, starting two of those, and was 2-0 with a 3.09 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings of work.
Cowboys vs. Golden Eagles
Oklahoma State is 35-36 all time in the series against Oral Roberts, including a 3-8 mark under Josh Holliday.
Last 11 Meetings
2017 - OSU 7, ORU 6 (11 inn./Stillwater); ORU 4, OSU 1 (Tulsa); ORU 11, OSU 7 (Tulsa); ORU 14, OSU 6 (NCAA Fayetteville Regional)
2016 - ORU 4, OSU 0 (Stillwater); ORU 3, OSU 1 (Tulsa)
2015 - ORU 4, OSU 2 (Tulsa); ORU 15, OSU 5 (Stillwater)
2014 - ORU 15, OSU 8 (Tulsa); OSU 8, ORU 3 (Stillwater)
2013 - OSU 4, ORU 2 (Tulsa/ONEOK Field)
High Five
OSU entered the 2018 season as the fifth-winningest team in NCAA history in terms of winning percentage at .663.
Team Seasons Wins Losses Ties Pct.
1. Texas 121 3,443 1,283 31 .727
2. Florida State 70 2,839 1,066 11 .726
3. Miami (Fla.) 73 2,567 1,058 18 .707
4. Arizona State 106 2,836 1,413 8 .667
5. Oklahoma State 106 2,586 1,315 4 .663
Home Sweet Home
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since April 4, 1981, and in those 38 seasons, the Cowboys have been nearly unbeatable on their home field.
OSU is 922-235-1 (.797) all time at Reynolds Stadium and has lost more than two consecutive games on its home turf only nine times (six in a row in 2007; five straight in 2017; four in a row in 2016 and 2018; three straight in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017).
The Cowboys are 8-6-1 on their home field in 2018.
Building A Winner
In the first five seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday built quite an impressive resume. Among the highlights:
• The Cowboys have earned five NCAA Regional berths, advanced to two Super Regionals and played in the College World Series for the first time since Holliday was a senior for the Cowboys in 1999.
• OSU finished first or second in the Big 12 Conference standings each season from 2013-16.
• The Cowboys finished in the top 10 in the national rankings in 2014 (10th) and 2016 (4th) after ending the 2013 season ranked as high as No. 19. In 2015, they were ranked as high as 17th in the final polls
• In 2014, OSU won its first-ever Big 12 Conference regular season championship, and the 2017 club captured the second Big 12 Championship title in program history.
• OSU hosted NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2015 and was the top-seeded team both times.
• Holliday has coached 42 All-Big 12 performers, six All-Americans, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees and a Big 12 Player of the Year.
Comeback Cowboys
Come-from-behind victories have been a trend for the Cowboys under Josh Holliday; OSU has overcome deficits to win 90 games in Holliday's six seasons. The largest deficit OSU has overcome in 2018 is six runs — the Cowboys trailed both Missouri State (3/7) and TCU (3/31/Gm. 2) by a 6-0 score but came back to win both games.
Year Come-From-Behind Wins
2013 18
2014 28
2015 15
2016 9
2017 11
2018 10
Like Kissing Your Sister
For the fifth time in program history and first time since 1985, Oklahoma State had a game end in a tie on March 18 against Seton Hall in Stillwater. Knotted at 3-3, the game officially ended with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning due to a weather delay and Seton Hall's travel curfew.
With Cowboy runners on second and third and one out, lightning was detected in the area. The game was delayed for 36 minutes and was just minutes from resuming before the lightning sirens went off again, causing the game to be halted and officially end in a tie due to the Pirates traveling to Oklahoma City to catch a flight.
The game marked the first ever at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium to end in a tie and marked OSU's first draw since the Cowboys tied Western Michigan in Lakeland, Fla., on March 4, 1985, in a contest called due to darkness.
Once In A Blue Moon
The Cowboys' back-to-back series sweeps against TCU and Kansas State marked the first time since 2014 and only the second time under Josh Holliday that OSU has posted consecutive Big 12 series sweeps.
The Pokes extended their Big 12 win streak to seven games with a victory in the series opener at West Virginia; that streak tied the 2014 OSU team for the longest ever under Holliday and the fourth longest by the Cowboys in Big 12 history.
Big 12 Win Streak Year
9 games 2004
8 games 2008, 1999
7 games 2018, 2014, 2012, 2006
Tank Smash
Colin Simpson, aka "Tank", enjoyed a breakout sophomore season for the Cowboys in 2017. The catcher/DH collected honorable mention All-Big 12 honors and led OSU with 11 home runs while ranking third in RBIs (40) and slugging percentage (.492).
Simpson did the majority of his damage against Big 12 competition as in 22 conference games he hit .272 with seven homers and 23 RBIs — no other Cowboy had more than two homers or 19 RBIs in league play. During one stretch, Simpson went deep in four-straight Big 12 contests, including smacking two homers vs. West Virginia on April 2.
Simpson was named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team after hitting .368 (7-for-19) with two doubles, two homers and five RBIs in four tourney games.
Off to a strong start in 2018, Simpson is hitting a team-high .308 and is tied for the Big 12 lead with 11 home runs, which ties his career high from a year ago. He also leads OSU in hits (41), RBIs (38), total bases (83) and slugging percentage (.624). He has started all 34 games for the Cowboys — 23 at catcher, six in left field and five as DH.
Outfield Veteran
A constant in Josh Holliday's lineup card over the last three seasons has been outfielder Jon Littell. The senior is by far the Cowboys' most experienced player, having appeared in 169 games, and his 157 starts is 60 more than the next closest player on the OSU roster.
Littell has experience at both corner outfield spots as he's made 104 starts in left field and 53 in right field in his career.
A big reason why OSU has started Big 12 play with a 9-3 mark is Littell's bat — he's the league's fifth leading hitter in conference play with a .388 clip and has posted a .612 slugging percentage with four doubles, two triples and a homer.
At the plate, Littell caught fire in OSU's 2017 run to the College World Series as he was OSU's second-leading hitter in the NCAA tourney with a .379 batting average (11-for-29) in nine games. He carried that into 2017, where he was hitting over .300 with three homers and 21 RBIs before suffering injuries in an outfield collision at TCU on March 26 and missing nine games; the injuries lingered throughout the remainder of the season.
Littell proved a clutch hitter in 2017 as he hit .306 (15-for-49) with runners in scoring position and had 16 two-out RBIs.
What A Week
The sizzling bat of Jon Littell was rewarded with NCBWA National Hitter of the Week honors on April 3 as well as Big 12 Player of the Week accolades on April 2 following a week that saw the Cowboy senior lead the Pokes to a midweek win over Oklahoma and a series sweep of TCU.
Littell was 9-for-15 (.600) at the plate in the four games with three doubles, two triples and four RBIs. He also scored nine runs, drew five walks, stole a base and turned in a 1.067 slugging percentage.
Against a TCU pitching staff that entered the weekend as the Big 12 leader in ERA, Littell was 8-for-11 (.727) with three doubles, two triples and four RBIs. He scored nine runs, collected 15 total bases and posted a 1.364 slugging percentage.
Mr. Versatility
Andrew Rosa is in his fifth season at OSU and is poised to make his final collegiate season his best yet.
Rosa's ability to play multiple positions makes him a valuable part of the lineup. He's played in 131 career games, 78 as a starter, and he has been in the starting lineup at first base, second base, third base, left field, center field and DH.
Listed as an infielder, Rosa's first three starts of 2018 came at second base, but he was inserted as a starter in center field — a position he had never previously played for the Cowboys — during the two midweek contests against Little Rock. He has started 13 games at second base, six in center field and one each at first base and DH this season while spending the majority of those batting either leadoff or second in the order.
Rosa missed the weekend games vs. Seton Hall and Missouri State and the Texas series with a foot injury (he had two at-bats at Central Arkansas before aggravating the injury). He is hitting .278 on the season to go along with a .443 slugging percentage, and his .427 on-base percentage and 10 hit by pitches leads the team.
Shining In Stillwater
In his third season at the collegiate level, Matt Kroon is showcasing the skills that have made him a two-time Major League Baseball Draft pick.
Kroon, who has started 17 games at third base and 14 at shortstop this season, came to Stillwater following stints at Oregon and Central Arizona CC, and he has been among the Cowboys' most consistent hitters in 2018.
Kroon leads OSU with 31 runs and 10 stolen bases and is third on the Cowboys in RBIs (21), on-base percentage (.403) and hits (35). The Arizona native has 11 multi-hit games and had a streak of reaching base safely snapped at 24 games at Wichita State.
Kroon's father, Marc, pitched four seasons in the big leagues for the Padres, Reds and Rockies.
RPI Talk
The official NCAA RPI (games through April 15) has OSU at No. 32, while Oral Roberts is No. 205.
Texas Tech is No. 3 in the RPI, while other Big 12 teams are Texas (23), West Virginia (30), Oklahoma (34), TCU (56), Baylor (63), Kansas (91) and Kansas State (118).
![Image Taken at [event name], [day], [month date], [year], O’Brate Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma.Katie Lehew/OSU Athletics.](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Fokstate.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F4%2F3%2FBrueggemann_HR_vs._Cincinnati.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
