Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
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Kansas
Cowboy Baseball Looks To Maintain Standing Atop Big 12
April 19, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball
Game Notes
Oklahoma State (20-14-1, 9-3) vs. Kansas (19-16, 3-8)
Fri., April 20/2 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.  (DH) • Sun., April 22/1 p.m.
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
  Video/TV: FOX College Sports/FOX Sports GO app (Gm. 2) & okstate.com/live (Gm. 1 & Sun.) (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 20-14-1 and have won three-straight Big 12 Conference series to move into a tie with Oklahoma atop the Big 12 standings with a 9-3 mark..
    • 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 220-120-1 at his alma mater.
About Kansas
    • Kansas is 19-17 on the season and enters the weekend on a four-game losing streak. The Jayhawks sit in sixth place in the Big 12 standings with a 3-8 league mark.
    • Led by sophomore Jaxx Groshans (.346, 3 HR, 29 RBI) and junior Devin Foyle (.315, 5 HR, 30 RBI), the Jayhawks own a .275 team batting average and are averaging nearly six runs per game.
    • KU's pitching staff sports a 5.86 ERA and has recorded 302 strikeouts in 318.0 innings.
    • Ritch Price is in his 16th season as the Jayhawks' head coach and owns a 484-447-3 career record, and he led KU to NCAA Regional appearances in 2006, 2009 and 2014. In 40 years as a head coach at the collegiate and high school levels, Price has compiled over 1,100 wins.
    • KU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
    Friday: RHP Ryan Zeferjahn — 6-1, 2.70 ERA in eight starts; 56 K, 21 BB in 46.2 IPÂ
          LHP Taylor Turski — 1-6, 6.56 ERA in nine starts; 39 K, 21 BB in 46.2 IP    Â
    Sunday: RHP Jackson Goddard — 4-0, 4.29 ERA in four appearances; 20 K, 13 BB in 21.0 IP
Cowboys vs. Jayhawks
    Oklahoma State is 140-54 all time in the series against Kansas, including a 9-7 mark under Josh Holliday.
    Last 12 Meetings
    2017 - OSU 11, KU 6; KU 6, OSU 5; KU 4, OSU 2 (Lawrence)     Â
    2016 - OSU 4, KU 3; OSU 9, KU 2; OSU 8, KU 1 (Stillwater)
    2015 - OSU 7, KU 2; KU 3, OSU 2; KU 4, OSU 2 (Lawrence)
    2014 - OSU 7, KU 0; OSU 5, KU 3; OSU 6, KU 3 (Stillwater)        Â
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.Â
    OSU is 922-236-1 (.796) 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 8-7-1 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.
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.
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 .309 and is tied for the Big 12 lead with a career-high 12 home runs. He also leads OSU in hits (42), RBIs (40), total bases (87) and slugging percentage (.640). He has started all 35 games for the Cowboys — 23 at catcher, six in left field and six 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 170 games, and his 158 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 105 starts in left field and 53 in right field in his career.Â
    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.Â
    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. VersatilityÂ
    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 132 career games, 79 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 .280 on the season to go along with a .439 slugging percentage, and his .430 on-base percentage and 10 hit by pitches leads the team.
Teel Time
    Carson Teel joined the OSU program as a walk-on in 2015 and spent that season redshirting for his hometown team. Since then, Teel has flourished into a scholarship player with a significant role in the Cowboys' pitching rotation.
    In 2017, the southpaw led OSU with 28 appearances, 25 of those in relief, and topped the Pokes with a 3.06 ERA and three saves while ranking second on the pitching staff in wins (5) and strikeouts (77).
    In OSU's run to the Big 12 Championship title, Teel appeared in all four games, striking out 10 and allowing only one run in 8.1 innings out of the bullpen.
    Teel was a 27th-round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox in last June's MLB Draft but put a professional career on hold to return for his junior season.Â
    In 14 appearances this season, nine of those in relief, Teel is 4-2 with three saves and a 3.56 ERA. He earned his first win of the season with a career-high 7 1/3 innings of work against Arizona State before striking out a career-high 10 in four innings to earn a win against Eastern Michigan. In his first start of 2018 against Missouri State, he struck out eight and allowed just three hits in seven scoreless innings to pick up a win.
    Teel was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on April 9 after tossing his first-career complete game in a win at Kansas State; he struck out nine and allowed only one run while holding the Wildcats scoreless over the final eight innings.
    Teel ranks fifth in the Big 12 in strikeouts (54) and opponent batting average (.233).
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 18 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 32 runs and 10 stolen bases, is second with 36 hits and ranks third in RBIs (22) and on-base percentage (.399). 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 and was also a Nippon Professional Baseball standout in Japan, where he racked up 177 saves over six seasons.
Saturday Slugger
    Carson McCusker played a key role in OSU's Saturday doubleheader sweep of TCU, and in doing so earned recognition as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on April 2.Â
    The sophomore entered the day having made just one start on the season and with only one hit, a single, in 11 at-bats. He started both games of the doubleheader in right field and went 4-for-6 with three home runs, all solo shots, while also making several highlight-reel defensive plays in the outfield.
    McCusker has made 11-straight starts in right field, and he is hitting .345 with four homers and six RBIs in Big 12 play.
Boone Goes The Dynamite
    Trevor Boone has been on a tear at the plate of late with his recent 11-game hitting streak marking the longest of his career and the second longest by a Cowboy this season.
    The sophomore outfielder was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week on April 9 after a three-game stretch that saw him go 7-for-12 at the plate with a pair of doubles, a homer and three RBIs. In the series sweep of Kansas State, Boone was 6-for-12 with two homers and five RBIs, and his go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of the series finale lifted the Cowboys to a series sweep.
    Boone is hitting .319 in Big 12 play with three homers and 12 RBIs.
An All-American Streak
    The Cowboys have had a player earn first-team All-American status in each of the last four years. The streak began with pitcher Brendan McCurry (2014), who was followed by pitchers Michael Freeman (2015) and Thomas Hatch (2016). Outfielder Garrett McCain extended the streak in 2017.
    OSU has had 25 different players earn first-team All-America status in program history.
RPI Talk
    The official NCAA RPI (games through April 18) has OSU at No. 38, while Kansas is No. 85.
    Texas Tech is No. 3 in the RPI, while other Big 12 teams are Texas (24), West Virginia (25), Oklahoma (34), Baylor (61), TCU (66) and Kansas State (112).
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