#9 Oklahoma State (11-3-1) at #4 Texas Tech (14-3)

Fri., March 19 / 6:30 p.m. • Sat., March 20 / 2 p.m. • Sun., March 21 / 2 p.m.
Rip Griffin Park (4,432) • Lubbock, Texas

Video/TV: ESPN+
Radio: Pete 94.3 FM / KSPI AM-780 (Robert Allen & Matt Davis)
stillwaterradio.net
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • OSU opens Big 12 Conference play Friday night in Lubbock, Texas, in a matchup of top 10 teams as the ninth-ranked Cowboys take on No. 4 Texas Tech. The Pokes are 11-3-1 on the season.
     • 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 295-161-2 at his alma mater.

About Texas Tech

     • Texas Tech is 14-3 on the season, including an 11-0 mark at home.
     • The Red Raiders are hitting .296 as a team, while their pitching staff owns a 3.87 ERA.
     • Tim Tadlock is in his ninth season as TTU's head coach and has posted a 315-158 career record.
     • TTU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

     Friday: RHP Brandon Birdsell — 2-0 with a 4.60 ERA in four appearances; 13 K, 7 BB in 15.2 IP
     Saturday: LHP Patrick Monteverde — In four starts is 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA; 27 K, 2 BB in 23.0 IP
     Sunday: LHP Mason Montgomery — 1-0 with a 3.26 ERA in four starts; 21 K, 8 BB in 19.1 IP

Cowboys vs. Red Raiders

Oklahoma State is 43-41 all time against TTU, including a 10-16 mark under Josh Holliday. The last meeting came in the 2019 NCAA Super Regional in Lubbock with the Red Raiders winning 2-of-3 games to advance to the College World Series.

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.
     Prior to dropping the series opener to Vanderbilt, the Cowboys' last loss had come against Missouri State on March 3, 2020, in Stillwater.

In The Polls

     OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first five weeks of the season and are once again as high as No. 9 this week, earning that ranking from Collegiate Baseball. The Pokes are also ranked 11th in the USA Today coaches poll, 12th by the NCBWA, 14th by D1Baseball.com, 24th by Perfect Game and 25th by Baseball America.
     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.

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.

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' 160 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.

Glimpse Of A Bright Future

     Two Cowboys earned Freshman All-American status following the shortened 2020 season, with outfielder Caeden Trenkle and two-way standout Justin Campbell collecting honors from Collegiate Baseball.
     In 18 games, Trenkle hit .333 with three home runs, 16 RBIs and a team-high .623 slugging percentage, and he tied for the NCAA lead with four triples while ranking third nationally with five sacrifice bunts.
     Campbell starred both on the mound and at the plate. Offensively, he appeared in 10 games and hit .414 with a homer and seven RBIs. He had a pair of three-RBI games and hit safely in five of his last six games in the lineup.
     On the bump, the right-handed Campbell was in the weekend starting rotation the entire season and went 1-2 with a 4.43 ERA in four starts while recording 22 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings. In his final outing of the season, he tossed eight shutout innings against BYU and racked up nine strikeouts.

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 3-1 with a 1.71 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 21.0 innings in his four outings this season.

Four Sure

     Four of the five starting pitchers OSU has used this season — Parker Scott, Justin Wrobleski, Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell — have combined to go 8-2 with a 2.41 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 74.2 innings.
     Both Wrobleski and Campbell have turned in 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 Missouri State, and Wrobleski racked up 13 punchouts and allowed only one hit in seven scoreless frames vs. Grand Canyon.
     Campbell ranks sixth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings with 16.94.

Big 12 Baseball Is Back As Cowboys Open League Play At Texas Tech

#9 Oklahoma State (11-3-1) at #4 Texas Tech (14-3)

Fri., March 19 / 6:30 p.m. • Sat., March 20 / 2 p.m. • Sun., March 21 / 2 p.m.
Rip Griffin Park (4,432) • Lubbock, Texas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Max Hewitt

Hueston Morrill

Bryce Osmond

Parker Scott

Caeden Trenkle

Justin Wrobleski

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Big 12 Baseball Is Back As Cowboys Open League Play At Texas Tech

#9 Oklahoma State (11-3-1) at #4 Texas Tech (14-3)

Fri., March 19 / 6:30 p.m. • Sat., March 20 / 2 p.m. • Sun., March 21 / 2 p.m. Rip Griffin Park (4,432) • Lubbock, Texas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Max Hewitt

Hueston Morrill

Bryce Osmond

Parker Scott

Caeden Trenkle

Justin Wrobleski

Related Videos

Fri., March 19 / 6:30 p.m. • Sat., March 20 / 2 p.m. • Sun., March 21 / 2 p.m.
Rip Griffin Park (4,432) • Lubbock, Texas