Cowboy Baseball Set For Big 12 Home Opener

March 25, 2021 | Cowboy Baseball

Game Notes (PDF)

Kansas State (13-7, 0-0) at #13 Oklahoma State (12-6-1, 1-2)

Fri., March 26 / 6 p.m. • Sat., March 27 / 6 p.m. • Sun., March 28 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Fri. & Sun.) (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
                     okstate.com/watch/ (Sat.)
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
   stillwaterradio.net
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State
   • OSU continues its long homestand at O'Brate Stadium when the Cowboys host Kansas State for their Big 12 Conference home opening series this weekend. The Pokes are 12-6-1 on the season and 1-2 in Big 12 play, and they own a 7-3-1 mark at home.
   • 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 296-164-2 at his alma mater.

About Kansas State
   • Kansas State is 13-7 on the season and coming off a midweek loss at Wichita State.
   • Led by Dylan Phillips (.384, 5 HR, 25 RBIs), the Wildcats are hitting .275 on the season, while their pitching staff sports a Big 12-best 3.08 ERA.
   • Pete Hughes is in his third season as KSU's head coach and owns a 48-47 record. In 24 years as a head coach that includes stops at Trinity, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma, he is 700-539-3.
   • K-State's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
   Friday: LHP Jordan Wicks — 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA in five starts; 42 K, 8 BB in 31.1 IP
   Saturday: RHP Carson Seymour — In five starts is 1-2 with a 4.88 ERA; 18 K, 13 BB in 24.0 IP
   Sunday: RHP Connor McCullough — 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA in five starts; 30 K, 8 BB in 27.1 IP

Cowboys vs. Wildcats
   Oklahoma State is 168-51 all time against Kansas State, including a 19-3 mark under Josh Holliday. The Cowboys have won eight in a row in the series dating back to 2017.

In The Polls
   OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first six weeks of the season and are ranked as high as No. 13 this week, earning that ranking from Collegiate Baseball. The Pokes are also ranked 17th in the USA Today coaches poll, 18th by the NCBWA and 20th by D1Baseball.com.
   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.

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.

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 4-1 with a 1.29 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 28.0 innings in his five outings this season.

Four Sure
   Four of the six starting pitchers OSU has used this season — Parker Scott, Justin Wrobleski, Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell — have combined to go 9-4 with a 2.60 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 93.1 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.
   Scott ranks sixth nationally with four wins, while Campbell ranks 13th in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings with 15.63 and 18th with a 0.47 ERA.

Fear The Beard
   Brett Standlee has emerged as OSU's top arm out of the bullpen in 2021.
   In a team-high nine relief appearances, the bearded one is 1-0 with three saves and a 0.79 ERA. In 11 1/3 innings, the right-hander has posted 20 strikeouts and allowed just one run on four hits, and he's been part of three of the Cowboys' five shutouts.
   Forced to redshirt the 2018 season after being declared academically ineligible, Standlee made his collegiate debut in 2019 and served roles as both a starter and reliever en route to earning a spot on the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. He appeared in 19 games, 12 as a starter, and was 3-2 with a save and a 4.26 ERA while ranking second on the team in strikeouts (55) and innings pitched (72 2/3).
   In the Big 12 Championship title game, Standlee had a memorable performance as he worked a career-high seven innings and allowed just one run while striking out three against West Virginia to earn the win in OSU's 5-2 victory.
   Last season, Standlee was again used as a starter and reliever and went 1-0 with a save, a 1.83 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings over a team-high seven appearances. He earned a win in his start at No. 8 Arizona State, tying career highs in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (8) in OSU's 2-1 victory.

Bombs Away
   In less than two full seasons at Yavapai JC, Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit 33 home runs in 81 games, and he's continued that power surge in his first season in Stillwater.
   Encarnacion-Strand, who has started all 18 games for the Cowboys at third base, has smacked a team-high six home runs and also leads the Pokes with 16 RBIs.
   With Encarnacion-Strand leading the way, the Cowboys have tallied 26 homers by nine different players in 2021. Brock Mathis and Nolan McLean rank second on OSU with five round trippers.

Mound Menaces
   • OSU's five shutouts this season are tied for the most in the NCAA along with Mississippi State. The school record for shutouts in a season is 13, set in 1984; in 2016, the Pokes had 10.
   • The Cowboys lead the Big 12 and rank 12th nationally with 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings. OSU has racked up 219 strikeouts in 169 innings.
   • Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 and ranks 18th nationally with a 0.47 ERA. The righty has allowed just one earned run in his 19 innings of work.
   • Campbell posted a career-high 14 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings against Oral Roberts on March 9. The 14 strikeouts were just two shy of the OSU single-game record held by Derek Brandow.
   • In that game against the Golden Eagles, Campbell teamed with Mitchell Stone, Kale Davis and Brett Standlee to strike out 19 ORU batters. The 19 strikeouts are one shy of the OSU and Big 12 Conference record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game; the Cowboys punched out 20 against Alabama A&M on March 23, 2010. The program record for strikeouts in a game is 21, which came in a 15-inning contest against Texas in 2011.

Big 12's Best
   The Cowboys have collected weekly awards from the Big 12 Conference in four consecutive weeks.
   • Week 2 (3/1) - Brock Mathis, Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week
   • Week 3 (3/8) - Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week
   • Week 4 (3/15) - Justin Campbell, Big 12 Pitcher of the Week & Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week
   • Week 5 (3/22) - Parker Scott, Big 12 Pitcher of the Week