Around The Horn With Cowboy Baseball

Oklahoma State capped off a perfect 4-0 week by besting No. 18 Oklahoma in three games last weekend for its fourth Big 12 Conference series sweep of the season to improve to 15-3 in Big 12 play as the Pokes remained firmly atop the league standings. The Cowboys are 27-14-1 overall and travel to Tulsa for a midweek matchup against Oral Roberts this week tonight as they look to extend their win season-long winning streak to eight games.

Weekend Highlights

OSU's four Big 12 series sweeps this season is one shy of the program record set in 1999. Cowboy head coach Josh Holliday was a senior on that OSU team.
OSU outscored the Sooners 27-3 in the Bedlam Series and outhit OU by a 39-15 margin. The Cowboys recorded at least 12 hits in each of the three Bedlam games, including tying a season high with 14 in game two.
Counting a non-conference game in Norman on March 27, OSU has outscored the Sooners 34-4 on the season.
OSU tied a season high with three home runs in both the series opener and finale. The Cowboys also had three homers against Oral Roberts on April 17 and Kansas on April 20.
Carson Teel posted a career-high 12 strikeouts in eight shutout innings in the series opener to improve to 6-2 on the season. The southpaw was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week for his efforts.
Junior Joe Lienhard picked up the win in Saturday's series-clinching game and improved to 4-0 in his six Big 12 starts this season.
Carson McCusker extended his streak of reaching base safely to 18 games, his longest streak of the season.
Colin Simpson hit two home runs on the weekend and now leads the Big 12 with 14 homers. The last Cowboy to homer more than 14 times in a season was Rebel Ridling, who had 18 round trippers in 2008.

Big 12 Spotlight

OSU remains in sole possession of first place in the Big 12 and has a three-game lead in the standings with two league series to go.
The Cowboys are hitting .300 in Big 12 play, which ranks second in the conference. Multiple OSU players rank in the top 10 statistically in Big 12 play, including:

Carson Teel: Third in strikeouts (39).
Joe Lienhard: Second in wins (4), seventh in ERA (3.37), tied for fifth in strikeouts (34) and fourth in opponent batting average (.219).
Jon Littell: tied for first in runs scored (21), third in on-base percentage (.477), sixth in batting average (.377), tied for ninth in RBIs (17) and 10^th in slugging percentage (.609).
Colin Simpson: First in home runs (7), tied for fifth in stolen bases (6), tied for second in walks (14), eighth in RBIs (18) and eighth in slugging percentage (.629).
Matt Kroon: Leads the league in doubles (10), tied for third in third in runs scored (19) and tied for ninth in stolen bases (5).
Carson McCusker: Second in slugging percentage (.735), tied for fifth in home runs (5) and 10^th in on-base percentage (.439).
Trevor Boone: Tied for fourth in RBIs (19) and ninth in slugging percentage (.627).
Michael Neustifter: Ninth in batting average (.356) and tied for sixth in doubles (7).
Jonathan Heasley: Tied for ninth in strikeouts (27).

Up Next

Oklahoma State faces Oral Roberrs (26-15) tonight at 6:30 p.m. at J.L. Johnson Stadium.
The Golden Eagles are on a five-game winning streak headed into tonight's tilt.
OSU is 35-37 all-time against ORU, including a 3-9 mark under head coach Josh Holliday. ORU beat the Cowboys, 10-5, on April 17 in Stillwater.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Trevor Boone

Jonathan Heasley

Joe Lienhard

Jon Littell

Michael Neustifter

Colin Simpson

Carson Teel

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