Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Dallas Baptist
Cowboy Baseball Heads South For Midweek Matchup
April 23, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball
Game Notes
#17 Oklahoma State (23-14-1) at Dallas Baptist (25-12)
Tues., April 24/6:30 p.m.
Horner Ballpark (2,000) • Dallas, Texas
Video/TV: FOX Sports Southwest Plus/FOX Sports GO app (Reagan Ratcliff & Nate Frieling)
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM/okstate.com/watch (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/dbu/baseball
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
• The Cowboys are 23-14-1 and have won four-straight Big 12 Conference series to move into sole possession of first place in the Big 12 standings with a 12-3 league mark. Following the midweek test at Dallas Baptist, OSU will be back in Big 12 action this weekend for The Bedlam Series against Oklahoma.
• 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 223-120-1 at his alma mater.
About Dallas Baptist
• Dallas Baptist is 25-12 on the season, including an 18-4 mark on its home field, and the Patriots are coming off a series win at Indiana State last weekend in which they won 2-of-3 games.
• Led by senior Devlin Granberg (.396, 7 HR, 43 RBI, 13 SB) and junior Jameson Hannah (.371, 3 HR, 26 RBI), the Patriots own a .288 team batting average and are averaging 7.3 runs per game.
• DBU's pitching staff sports a 4.45 ERA and has recorded 334 strikeouts in 327.2 innings.
• Dan Heefner is in his 11th season as DBU's head coach and owns a 413-220 career record. He has led the Patriots to seven NCAA Regional appearances and a Super Regional in 2011.
• DBU is expected to start junior Kody Funderburk on the mound against the Cowboys. The southpaw is 1-2 with a 5.88 ERA in nine appearances (eight starts) this season and has recorded 34 strikeouts and 15 walks in 33.2 innings; he is also hitting .306 with nine homers and 28 RBIs.
Cowboys vs. Patriots
Oklahoma State is 11-5 in the all time in the series against Dallas Baptist, including a 4-1 mark under Josh Holliday.
Last Five Meetings
2018 - DBU 6, OSU 4 (Stillwater)
2016 - OSU 7, DBU 6 (Dallas); OSU 8, DBU 7 (11 inn. - Stillwater)
2015 - OSU 10, DBU 7 (10 inn. - Stillwater); OSU 11, DBU 2 (Dallas)
In The Polls
From March 4, 2013 to April 3, 2017, OSU was ranked in at least one national poll, a streak of 77 consecutive weeks. During that time, the Cowboys spent 18 weeks in the Top 10 and were ranked as high as No. 3 (by the NCBWA in 2014). They have finished in the top 10 in the final national polls twice in the last four seasons — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016 — and have ended the season in the top 10 in the national polls 20 times in program history.
OSU entered the national rankings for the first time in 2018 this week as the Cowboys checked in as high as No. 17 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and are also 23rd in the D1Baseball.com poll.
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
Sweep-stakes
The Cowboys have posted three Big 12 Conference series sweeps this season (vs. TCU, Kansas State and Kansas), the most by an OSU team since it had four in 2016. It also marks only the third time in six seasons under Josh Holliday that the Pokes have had three league series sweeps in a season (also 2014).
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.
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 .297 and leads the Cowboys with 12 homers, a career-high total that also ranks second in the Big 12. He also leads OSU in hits (43), RBIs (40), total bases (89) and slugging percentage (.614). He has started all 38 games for the Cowboys — 26 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 173 games, and his 161 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 108 starts in left field and 53 in right field in his career.
A big reason why OSU has started Big 12 play with a 12-3 mark is Littell's bat — he's hitting .362 in conference play and has posted a .552 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.
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 135 career games, 82 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 17 games at second base, six in center field and one at first base 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 .298 on the season to go along with a .447 slugging percentage, and his .438 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 21 games at shortstop and 17 games at third base 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 12 doubles, 35 runs and 11 stolen bases and is second with 39 hits. The Arizona native has 12 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.
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 14-straight starts in right field, and he is hitting a team-high .375 with four homers, six RBIs and a .775 slugging percentage in Big 12 play.
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 22) has OSU at No. 36, while Dallas Baptist is No. 41.
Texas Tech is No. 3 in the RPI, while other Big 12 teams are Oklahoma (28), West Virginia (32), Texas (33), Baylor (50), TCU (86), Kansas (102) and Kansas State (121).
