Oklahoma State University Athletics
Tuesday, February 25
STILLWATER, OK
3:00 PM
Oklahoma State University
vs
Little Rock
Noah Sifrit
Cowboy Baseball Concludes Homestand With Pair Of Midweek Games
February 24, 2020 | Cowboy Baseball
Game Notes
Little Rock (6-2) vs. #23 Oklahoma State (5-2)
Tues., Feb. 25/4 p.m. • Wed., Feb. 26/4 p.m.
Allie P. Reynolds Stadium (4,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
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 Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Tues.)
 Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM & stillwaterradio.net (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
 Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
 Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
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About Oklahoma State
   • Oklahoma State is 5-2 after sweeping a weekend series at home against UT Rio Grande Valley. The Cowboys conclude the five-game homestand at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium with a pair of midweek gams against Little Rock; both Tuesday's and Wednesday's contests are scheduled for 4 p.m.
   • The Cowboys are coming off a 40-21 season in which the Cowboys advanced to within one game of the College World Series. After winning the Big 12 Championship and NCAA Oklahoma City Regional titles, the Pokes fell in three games to Texas Tech at the Lubbock Super Regional.
   • Four position players who started at least 45 games for the Cowboys last season return in 2020 — outfielders Carson McCusker and Cade Cabbiness, infielder Hueston Morrill and first baseman Alix Garcia. OSU also returns a number of experienced arms on the mound, led by Parker Scott, Brett Standlee and Ben Leeper.
   • The 2020 season is OSU's eighth under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 276-155-1 at his alma mater.
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About Little Rock
   • Little Rock is 6-2 on the season, its best start since 2014.
   • The Trojans are hitting .298 as a team, led by sophomore infielders Miguel Soto (.484) and Nathan Lyons (.441), while the pitching staff sports a 3.99 ERA.
   • Chris Curry is in his sixth season as Little Rock's head coach and owns a 120-151 career record. Â
   • Little Rock's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
   Tuesday: LHP Cal Beardsley — 0-0, 10.80 ERA in 2 app. (1 start); 3 K, 4 BB in 3.1 IP    Â
   Wednesday: TBA — To Be Announced is undefeated, dude's got nasty stuff, six-pitch guy
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Cowboys vs. Trojans
   Oklahoma State is 45-3 all time against Little Rock, including a 3-1 mark under Josh Holliday.
   Last 4 Meetings
   2019: OSU 8, LR 3 (Stillwater)
   2018: OSU 9, LR 2 (7 inn.); LR 12, OSU 6 (Stillwater)
   2014: OSU 7, UALR 6 (Stillwater)   Â
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In The Polls
   OSU maintained a spot in the 2020 national rankings for the third consecutive week, checking in as high as No. 23 by Baseball America and coming in at No. 24 in the Perfect Game poll. The Cowboys occupy the No. 28 spot in both the Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA rankings.
   The Cowboys spent 12 weeks in the rankings in 2019 and finished as high as No. 11 in the final 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 six seasons — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.
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High Five
  OSU entered the 2020 season as the fifth-winningest team in NCAA history in terms of winning percentage at .661.Â
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2,657 & Counting
   Oklahoma State began the 2020 season 15th on the NCAA's all-time Division I wins list with 2,657. The Cowboys are one of only 24 programs in Division I history to reach 2,600 victories, and of those, only three — Florida State, Miami (Fla.) and Fresno State — have played fewer seasons than OSU's 108.
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Star StuddedÂ
   With the addition of Matt Holliday (volunteer assistant) and Robin Ventura (student assistant) to the coaching staff, OSU has a coaching duo unique to a college baseball dugot. Between them, Holliday and Ventura played in nearly 4,000 Major League Baseball games over 31 seasons and accumulated 610 home runs, 2,402 RBIs and nine All-Star selections.
   Holliday won four Silver Slugger Awards and played in three World Series, including winning a title with St. Louis in 2011, while Ventura racked up six Gold Gloves as a third baseman and also spent five seasons (2012-16) as the manager of the Chicago White Sox and led them to 375 wins.
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Baseball In Their Orange Blood
   Baseball — and Oklahoma State — is a family affair for Josh Holliday.
   Josh's father, Tom, served as an OSU assistant coach for 19 years then took over as the Cowboys' head coach from 1997-2003, leading the program to a College World Series appearance in 1999 (and coaching Josh in his final three college seasons). Tom spent four decades as a collegiate coach and was inducted into the OSU Cowboy Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016.
   Josh's younger brother, Matt, was a Major League Baseball standout from 2004-18 who was named to seven All-Star teams in 15 career seasons with the Rockies, Athletics, Cardinals and Yankees.
   Josh's uncle, Dave Holliday, was an OSU assistant coach from 1981-87 and has since held a variety of roles in Major League Baseball, including his current spot as a professional scout for the Atlanta Braves.
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Extra Innings At Allie P.
   OSU's historic ballpark, Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, enters its 40th season in 2020 and will play host to 14 games before the Cowboys move into the new O'Brate Stadium on March 20.
   Allie P. has been home to Oklahoma State baseball since April 4, 1981, and in those 39-plus seasons, the Cowboys have established a decisive home-field advantage.Â
   OSU is 938-247-1 (.791) all time at Reynolds Stadium. In the stadium's history, the Cowboys have lost more than two consecutive games on their home turf only 10 times (six in a row in 2007; five straight in 2017; four in a row in 2016 and 2018; three straight in 2010, '12, '13, '14, '17 and '18).
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Building A Winner
   In seven seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday has built a sparkling resume. Among the highlights:
   • The Cowboys earned seven NCAA Regional berths, advanced to three 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 five times, claiming the program's first-ever regular season Big 12 title in 2014 and finishing second in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
   • 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 2019, they were ranked as high as 11th in the final polls.
   • The Pokes have added three Big 12 championships to the program's total. 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. The Cowboys also claimed the conference tourney title in 2019.
   • OSU hosted NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2015 and was the top-seeded team both times. The Cowboys were also awarded a No. 9 national seed and host and top-seed status of the NCAA Oklahoma City Regional in 2019.
   • Holliday has coached 62 All-Big 12 performers, six All-Americans, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees, a Big 12 Player of the Year and a Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.
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SOS
   Oklahoma State's strength of schedule ranked as the nation's second toughest in 2019, and the Pokes will face stout opposition again this season, with 10 NCAA Regional teams from a year ago on the slate. Nine of OSU's opponents were ranked in the preseason polls — Arizona State (3), Texas Tech (3), UCLA (8), Oklahoma (16), TCU (20), Texas A&M (20), Dallas Baptist (23), Texas (24) and Oregon State (25).
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Close Calls
   OSU is 72-40 in one-run games under Josh Holliday, and 71 of the Cowboys' 155 losses under Holliday have come by two runs or less.
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Comeback Cowboys
   Come-from-behind victories have been a trend for the Cowboys under Josh Holliday; OSU has overcome deficits to win 120 games in Holliday's eight seasons.
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Go Pro
  During Josh Holliday's tenure as head coach, Oklahoma State has had 45 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Thirteen of those Cowboys were picked in the top 10 rounds, including 2013 first-rounder Jason Hursh.
  In 2016, OSU tied a program record with 11 MLB Draft picks. (The 2007 Cowboys also had 11 draftees). The 11 draft picks tied the Cowboys with Mississippi State for the third most of any Division I program in 2016 behind only Texas A&M (13) and Southern California (12). Five of those went in the first 10 rounds, which marked the most top-10-round picks for OSU since five Pokes were taken in the top-10 rounds in 2008. Seven of the OSU players drafted were pitchers.
   In 2019, OSU's eight draft picks tied for the ninth most of any Division I program; all eight were selected in the first 30 rounds, tying the Cowboys for the fifth-highest total in Division I.      Â
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Canadian Cowboy
   In his third and final season in an OSU uniform, senior Max Hewitt is poised to cap his career with his best year in Stillwater.
   Through the first two weeks of the season, Hewitt owns a Big 12-best .609 batting average (14-for-23), which also ranks fourth nationally.
   A native of Ontario, Canada, Hewitt played in 57 games over his first two OSU seasons, 28 of those as a starter, and hit .260 with nine RBIs and two extra-base hits. He has already driven in six runs this season and tallied two doubles and a triple.
   Used primarily as a middle infielder over the last two seasons, Hewitt made his debut as OSU's catcher in the second game of 2020 and has started four games behind the dish for the Pokes after having not previously played the position since high school.
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Welcome, Glad You're Here
   OSU's 2020 recruiting class was ranked as high as No. 3 nationally, and a number of players are expected to have an immediate impact this season.
   The Cowboys' starting lineup on opening weekend included four newcomers — transfers Brock Mathis, Jake Thompson and Kaden Polcovich and freshman Caeden Trenkle — while two-thirds of the starting pitching rotation was comprised of true freshmen in right-handers Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell.
   In a vote of the league's head coaches, Polcovich was selected as the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, while Osmond was tabbed the Preseason Freshman of the Year.
   Polcovich comes to Stillwater after two standout junior college seasons at Northwest Florida State. With the versatility to play on the infield and in the outfield, the switch hitter and hit .273 last season with 12 home runs, 38 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 53 games. He followed that up by being named to the 2019 All-Cape Cod League Team last summer.
   Osmond enjoyed a highly decorated career at Jenks High School, where he was a prep All-American. A possible two-way player as a right-handed pitcher and shortstop, he was rated the No. 53 overall prospect in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft by MLB Pipeline, and he was a 35th-round pick of the Washington Nationals last June.
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Here For The First Time
   Of the 34 players on OSU's active roster, 21 of those are either true freshmen (11), redshirt freshmen (3) or sophomores (7).
   Of the 14 hurlers who took the mound for OSU on opening weekend, eight were newcomers, including five true freshmen and a sophomore who had never pitched at the college level.
   Three of the top five hitters in the OSU lineup are newcomers, with Caeden Trenkle (.357), Kaden Polcovich (.346) and Jake Thompson (.286) also combining for 20 of the Cowboys' 45 RBIs on the year.
Players Mentioned
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