Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Oklahoma
Bedlam Baseball Series On Tap This Weekend
April 26, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball
#17 Oklahoma State (24-14-1, 12-3) vs. #18 Oklahoma (28-15, 10-5)
Fri., April 27/7 p.m. • Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
Sat., April 28/7 p.m. & Sun., April 28/3 p.m. • ONEOK Field (7,833) • Tulsa, Okla.
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 Video/TV: FOX Sports Plus/FOX Sports GO app (Fri.)
         FOX Sports Oklahoma/Fox Sports GO (Sat. & Sun.) Â
        (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
   • Winners of four in a row, the Cowboys are 24-14-1 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.
   • OSU is coming off a 2017 season in which it made its fifth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and posted a 30-27 record. The Cowboys went 8-14 in conference play a year ago to finish eighth in the standings but made history as 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 224-120-1 at his alma mater.
About Oklahoma
   • Oklahoma is coming off a Tuesday win at UT Arlington and is 28-15 on the season. The Sooners are tied with Texas Tech for third in the Big 12 standings with a 10-5 conference mark.
   • Led by junior Steele Walker (.373, 11 HR, 44 RBI) and senior Kyle Mendenhall (.329, 3 HR, 31 RBI), the Sooners own a .291 team batting average and are averaging 6.6 runs per game.
   • OU's pitching staff sports a collective 3.61 ERA and has recorded 417 strikeouts in 389.0 innings.
   • Skip Johnson is in his first season as the Sooners' head coach after serving as their pitching coach in 2017; prior to that he spent a decade as an assistant and associate head coach at Texas.
   • OU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
    Friday: RHP Jake Irvin — 5-0, 2.87 ERA in 10 starts; 68 K, 16 BB in 62.2 IPÂ
   Saturday: RHP Devon Perez — 4-1, 3.54 ERA in 10 starts; 32 K, 16 BB in 48.1 IP    Â
    Sunday: RHP Nathan Wiles — 4-2, 3.73 ERA in 10 appearances (nine starts); 41 K, 6 BB in 50.2 IP
Cowboys vs. Sooners
   Oklahoma State is 169-152 in the all time in the series against Oklahoma, including a 17-6 mark under Josh Holliday.
    Last 13 Meetings
    2018 - OSU 7, OU 1 (Norman)     Â
    2017 - OSU 9, OU 7; OSU 5, OU 2 (DH in Oklahoma City); OSU 4, OU 3 (Stillwater)     Â
    2016 - OU 9, OSU 1 (OKC); OSU 10, OU 9; OU 3, OSU 1 (Tulsa); OSU 4, OU 3 (Norman)
   2015 - OSU 5, OU 1 (Big 12 Championship/Tulsa); OSU 9, OU 6 (Tulsa); OSU 8, OU 1; OU 5, OSU 3 (OKC); OSU 24, OU 2 (Stillwater)  Â
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.
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 925-236-1 (.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 11-7-1 on their home field in 2018.
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.
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 .287 and leads the Cowboys with 12 homers, a career-high total that also ranks second in the Big 12. He also tops OSU in hits (43), RBIs (40), total bases (89) and slugging percentage (.593). He has started all 39 games for the Cowboys — 26 at catcher, seven as DH and six in left field.
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 174 games, and his 162 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 109 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 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.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 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 .296 on the season to go along with a .439 slugging percentage, and his .432 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 15 appearances this season, nine of those in relief, Teel is 5-2 with three saves and a 3.27 ERA, which ranks eighth in the Big 12. 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 fourth in the Big 12 in wins and strikeouts (60) and is fifth in opponent batting average (.231).
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 22 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 12 stolen bases and is second with 40 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.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 15-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.
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 tied for the team lead with 15 RBIs 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 25) has OSU at No. 35, while Oklahoma is No. 28.
   Texas Tech is No. 3 in the RPI, while other Big 12 teams are Texas (30), West Virginia (33), Baylor (44), TCU (75), Kansas (106) and Kansas State (109).
