Game Notes (PDF)

UAPB (4-22) at #19 Oklahoma State (21-10-1)

Tues., April 20 / 6 p.m. • Wed., April 21 / 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: okstate.com/watch/
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 opens a six-game homestand Tuesday night when the Cowboys host the first of two midweek games against UAPB at O'Brate Stadium. OSU is 21-10-1 on the season, and the Pokes sit fourth in the conference with a 6-6 mark. OSU returns to league play Friday against No. 3 Texas in Stillwater.
   • 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 305-168-2 at his alma mater.

About UAPB
   • UAPB is 4-22 on the season and coming off two-straight home wins over Texas Southern.
   • The Golden Lions are hitting .228 as a team, while their pitching staff owns a 10.88 ERA.
   • Carlos James is in his 11th season as UAPB's head coach and owns a 162-303-1 career record. He has led the Golden Lions to three SWAC championships.

Cowboys vs. Golden Lions
   Oklahoma State is 23-0 in the all-time series against UAPB; the last meeting came in 2012.

In The Polls
   OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first 10 weeks of the season and is currently ranked as high as 19th in this week's USA Today coaches poll. The Cowboys are also ranked 20th by Collegiate Baseball and 24th in the D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game polls.
   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.

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.

300 Club
   Josh Holliday recorded his 300th career win as a head coach when he led his alma mater to a 5-4 win over Bedlam-rival Oklahoma on March 30 in Stillwater.
   Holliday is one of four coaches to reach the 300-win milestone with the Cowboys, joining Gary Ward (953), Frank Anderson (329) and Toby Greene (318).

Checking The RPI
   OSU comes in at No. 12 in the latest official NCAA RPI, while UAPB is No. 283.

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.

They're Watching You
   Justin Campbell has been named to a pair of national award watch lists in 2021. The Cowboys' two-way standout is one of 45 players on the midseason watch list for USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award, which is given to the top amateur player in the country, and he is also one of 17 players on the College Baseball Foundation's John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Watch List.

Bombs Away
   In less than two full seasons at Yavapai JC, where he played in a wooden bat league, 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 32 games for the Cowboys at third base, has smacked a team-high 12 home runs and also leads the Pokes with 43 RBIs, both totals that rank sixth nationally.
   With Encarnacion-Strand leading the way, the Cowboys have tallied 44 home runs to rank 19th in the NCAA this season, and 11 different players have gone deep. Nolan McLean and Brock Mathis rank second on OSU with seven round trippers.

Mound Menaces
   • OSU's five shutouts this season rank fourth in the NCAA behind Louisiana Tech (7), UConn (6) and Gonzaga (6).
   • OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 and 19th nationally with 346 strikeouts, and their 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings leads the conference and is 13th in the NCAA. The Pokes have racked up 346 strikeouts in 282.2 innings.
   • Justin Campbell ranks third in the Big 12 with a 2.00 ERA, while Parker Scott is fourth at 2.20.
   • Campbell recorded a streak of 28 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run that stretched from the fourth inning of his first start vs. LR on Feb. 24 to the sixth inning of his start vs. WVU on April 2.
   • 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 batters. The 19 strikeouts are one shy of the OSU and Big 12 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 five times this season.
   • 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
   • Week 7 (4/5) - Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Big 12 Player of the Week

Cowboy Baseball Back Home For Midweek Pair

Game Notes (PDF)

UAPB (4-22) at #19 Oklahoma State (21-10-1)

Tues., April 20 / 6 p.m. • Wed., April 21 / 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Kale Davis

Christian Encarnacion-Strand

Max Hewitt

Brock Mathis

Nolan McLean

Hueston Morrill

Parker Scott

Brett Standlee

Mitchell Stone

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboy Baseball Back Home For Midweek Pair

Game Notes (PDF)

UAPB (4-22) at #19 Oklahoma State (21-10-1)

Tues., April 20 / 6 p.m. • Wed., April 21 / 6 p.m. O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Kale Davis

Christian Encarnacion-Strand

Max Hewitt

Brock Mathis

Nolan McLean

Hueston Morrill

Parker Scott

Brett Standlee

Mitchell Stone

Related Videos

Tues., April 20 / 6 p.m. • Wed., April 21 / 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.