Game Notes

#2 Vanderbilt (10-1) at #9 Oklahoma State (10-0-1)

Fri., March 12 / 6 p.m. • Sat., March 13 / 6 p.m. • Sun., March 14 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Dave Hunziker, Mike Wolfe & Tom Holliday)
Radio: 93.7 KSPI FM or Pete 94.3 FM / KSPI AM-780
   stillwaterradio.net (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State
   • OSU returns to O'Brate Stadium for a weekend showdown of top 10 teams as the ninth-ranked Cowboys host No. 2 Vanderbilt in a three-game series beginning Friday night. The Pokes are 10-0-1 on the season, including a 6-0-1 mark on their home field.
   • The Cowboys are coming off a 13-5 showing in 2020, a season that was cut short in early March due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
   • OSU returns the majority of its 2020 roster in 2021, along with a talented group of newcomers in a recruiting class ranked in the top 25 nationally. Seven position players that started at least 13 games a year ago are back, and the Cowboys' entire starting weekend rotation also returns.
   • The 2021 season is OSU's ninth under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 294-158-2 at his alma mater.

About Vanderbilt
   • Vanderbilt is 10-1 on the season, with all of those games being played at home.
   • The Commodores are hitting .332 as a team, while their pitching staff owns a 2.00 ERA.
   • Tim Corbin is in his 19th season as Vandy's head coach and owns a 763-360-1 career record; he led the Dores to national championships in 2014 and 2019.
   • Vandy's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
   Friday: RHP Kumar Rocker —3-0 with a 0.00 ERA in three starts; 25 K, 7 BB in 15.0 IP
   Saturday: RHP Jack Leiter — In three starts is 3-0 with a 0.60 ERA; 26 K, 7 BB in 15.0 IP
   Sunday: RHP Thomas Schultz — 1-1 with a 1.74 ERA in three outings (two starts); 14 K, 2 BB in 10.1 IP

Cowboys vs. Commodores
   Oklahoma State has faced Vanderbilt just once in program history, that coming in 2010 at the Dodgertown Classic in Los Angeles. The Commodores won that game, 7-6.

Streakers
   OSU's 9-0 start to the 2021 season was its best-ever start to a season under Josh Holliday, surpassing that of the 2014 Cowboys, who won their first seven games in Holliday's second season at the helm.
   Until posting a tie in the series finale vs. Grand Canyon, the Pokes had tallied 14 consecutive victories after winning their final five games of 2020 prior to the cancellation of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
   The Cowboys' last loss came against Missouri State on March 3, 2020, in Stillwater.

In The Polls
   OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first four weeks of the season, and this week the Cowboys cracked the Top 10 as they checked in at No. 9 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 10 in the NCBWA rankings. The Pokes are also ranked 11th by Collegiate Baseball, 13th by D1Baseball.com and 19th by Baseball America and are No. 22 in the Perfect Game poll.
   The Cowboys spent three weeks of the 2020 season in the national polls and peaked at No. 16 in the Baseball America rankings.
   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.

High Five
Oklahoma State entered the 2021 season as the fifth-winningest team in NCAA baseball history in terms of winning percentage at .661.

2,657 & Counting
   Oklahoma State began the 2021 season 14th on the NCAA's all-time Division I wins list with 2,670. The Cowboys are one of only 25 programs in Division I history to reach 2,600 victories, and of those, only four — Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Florida and Fresno State — have played fewer seasons than OSU's 109.

One Last Ride
   Due to the 2020 season being cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA granted eligibility for '20 seniors wishing to return and play in 2021. Five Cowboys took advantage of the opportunity, with Cade Cabbiness, Alix Garcia, Max Hewitt, Carson McCusker and C.J. Varela opting to return this season.
   That group gives OSU a strong veteran presence, with Cabbiness and Varela returning for their fifth years in the program and Hewitt and McCusker their fourth; entering the '21 season, the group of Cabbiness, Garcia, Hewitt and McCusker has combined to play in 414 games for the Cowboys.

Building A Winner
   In eight 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, seven 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.

Close Calls
   OSU is 73-41 in one-run games under Josh Holliday, and 73 of the Cowboys' 158 losses under Holliday have come by two runs or less.

Comeback Cowboys
   Come-from-behind victories have been a trend for the Cowboys under Josh Holliday; OSU has overcome deficits to win 124 games in Holliday's nine seasons.

Preseason Picks
   OSU was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 standings in a preseason vote of the league's head coaches, who also named three Cowboys to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
   The coaches tabbed infielders Max Hewitt and Hueston Morrill as all-conference picks, while Justin Campbell was named to the team as a utility player.
   Hewitt finished second in the Big 12 with a .410 batting average in 2020 and had career highs in extra-base hits and RBIs despite the shortened season, while Morrill has started 75 games on the infield over the last two seasons and was an honorable mention All-Big 12 performer as a freshman.
   Campbell was a standout on the mound and at the plate as a freshman last season, hitting .414 with a pair of three-RBI games in limited duty, while ranking second on the team with 22 strikeouts as a part of OSU's weekend rotation.

Back On The Bump
   Parker Scott is back for a fifth season with the Cowboys, and the southpaw is expected to lead OSU's starting rotation. He is ranked No. 69 on D1Baseball.com's Preseason Power Rankings: Top 150 Starting Pitchers for college baseball in 2021.
   Scott struggled with injuries that cost him the majority of his first two seasons in Stillwater but showed what he could do when healthy over the last two seasons.
   Scott pitched in six games as a freshman in 2017, starting twice, before an arm injury ended his season. He suffered another setback when he underwent Tommy John Surgery that November that caused him to redshirt in 2018.
   After two years between appearances (March 12, 2017-March 10, 2019), Scott made 15 appearances in 2019, eight as a starter, and go 3-1 with a 2.18 ERA and 51 strikeouts in 45 1/3 innings. He led the Big 12 in conference-only games with a 1.11 ERA while racking up 31 strikeouts in 24 1/3 innings of work.
   In four starts in 2020, Scott was 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA and tallied 31 strikeouts in 25 innings.
   Scott is 3-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 17.0 innings in his three outings this season.

Four Sure
   OSU has used four starting pitchers this season — Parker Scott, Justin Wrobleski, Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell — and that group has combined to go 7-0 with a 1.33 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 61.0 innings.
   Both Wrobleski and Campbell are coming off career outings. Campbell struck out 14 in seven shutout innings at Oral Roberts, which came on the heels of a six-inning, 13-strikeout effort at Missiouri State, and Wrobleski racked up 13 punchouts and allowed only one hit in seven scoreless frames vs. Grand Canyon.
   Campbell is the national leader in strikeouts with 32.

You Always Remember Your First
   Oklahoma State was set to open O'Brate Stadium against TCU on March 20, 2020, but due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the remainder of the '20 season was canceled on March 12.
   After nearly a year of waiting, the Cowboys finally took the field for a game at O'Brate on Feb. 24, 2021 against Little Rock.
   OSU celebrated opening day with a 7-2 victory in front of a limited-capacity crowd of 2,635.
   Notable firsts from the opening game at O'Brate Stadium included:
   • First first pitch: Cecil O'Brate, the 92-year old entrepreneur and stadium namesake, who gave $35 million towards the complex.
   • First at-bat: Little Rock's Eldrige Figueroa
   • First strikeout: OSU pitcher Justin Campbell, who struck out the first three batters in the Little Rock lineup in the first inning.
   • First base runner: OSU's Matt Golda, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first.
   • First base on balls: The Cowboys' Jake Thompson drew a one-out walk on four pitches in the first inning.
   • First hit: Little Rock's Canyon McWilliams, who singled in the second inning.
   • First OSU hit: Cade Cabbiness, who delivered a double to left-center field in the bottom of the second.
   • First RBI: The Cowboys' Hueston Morrill, who drove in OSU's first run with a single in the second inning.
   • First run scored: Alix Garcia, who crossed the plate in the bottom of the second following a single by Hueston Morrill.
   • First home run: OSU's Alix Garcia, who smashed a solo shot to right field in the fifth.
   • First stolen base: Matt Golda, who swiped second base in the fifth.
   • First winning pitcher: OSU right-hander Wyatt Cheney, who came out of the Cowboy bullpen and worked two innings while striking out three.
   • First walk-off: Cowboy pinch hitter Justin Campbell's one-out single in the bottom of the ninth plated Dom Johnson from first to give OSU a 3-2 victory over Illinois State on Feb. 26.
   • First shutout: OSU used four pitchers in a 6-0 blanking of Illinois State on Feb. 28 as Bryce Osmond, C.J. Varela, Tucker Elliott and Roman Phansalkar combined for the shutout.
   • First (and hopefully last!) tie: OSU and Grand Canyon played to a rare tie in the series finale as the game was called after nine innings with the score 4-4 due to GCU's travel curfew.

Cowboy Baseball Hosts Top 10 Showdown At O'Brate

Game Notes

#2 Vanderbilt (10-1) at #9 Oklahoma State (10-0-1)

Fri., March 12 / 6 p.m. • Sat., March 13 / 6 p.m. • Sun., March 14 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cade Cabbiness

Justin Campbell

Wyatt Cheney

Tucker Elliott

Alix Garcia

Matt Golda

Max Hewitt

Dom Johnson

Carson McCusker

Hueston Morrill

Bryce Osmond

Roman Phansalkar

Parker Scott

Jake Thompson

C.J. Varela

Justin Wrobleski

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboy Baseball Hosts Top 10 Showdown At O'Brate

Game Notes

#2 Vanderbilt (10-1) at #9 Oklahoma State (10-0-1)

Fri., March 12 / 6 p.m. • Sat., March 13 / 6 p.m. • Sun., March 14 / 1 p.m. O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cade Cabbiness

Justin Campbell

Wyatt Cheney

Tucker Elliott

Alix Garcia

Matt Golda

Max Hewitt

Dom Johnson

Carson McCusker

Hueston Morrill

Bryce Osmond

Roman Phansalkar

Parker Scott

Jake Thompson

C.J. Varela

Justin Wrobleski

Related Videos

Fri., March 12 / 6 p.m. • Sat., March 13 / 6 p.m. • Sun., March 14 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.