Game Notes (PDF)

UNC Wilmington (15-9) at #11 Oklahoma State (18-7-1)

Fri., April 9 / 6 p.m. • Sat., April 10 / 6 p.m. • Sun., April 11 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Fri. & Sat.) (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
   okstate.com/watch/ (Sun.)
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 takes a break from Big 12 Conference action as the Cowboys host UNCW in a weekend series at O'Brate Stadium. The series was scheduled earlier this week after OSU had its series with Central Arkansas canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the UCA program; the Seahawks were scheduled for a conference weekend at James Madison, but that series was also canceled due to COVID-19 issues. The Pokes are 18-7-1 on the season, and they own a 13-4-1 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 302-165-2 at his alma mater.

About UNCW
   • UNCW is 15-9 on the season, including a 2-4 mark on the road.
   • Led by Brooks Baldwin (.333, 6 HR, 23 RBIs), the Seahawks are hitting .285 on the season, while their pitching staff sports a 3.74 ERA.
   • Randy Hood is in his second season as UNCW's head coach and owns a career record of 26-14 with the Seahawks. He has spent two decades on the UNCW coaching staff, joining as an assistant in 2001.
   • UNCW's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
   Friday: RHP Landen Roupp — 3-2 with a 2.95 ERA in seven starts; 42 K, 17 BB in 42.2 IP
   Saturday: RHP Luke Gesell — In seven starts is 2-2 with a 3.89 ERA; 32 K, 6 BB in 39.1 IP
   Sunday: RHP Ryan Calvert — 1-0 with a 3.43 ERA in six starts; 23 K, 12 BB in 21.0 IP

Cowboys vs. Seahawks
   OSU and UNCW have never previously met on the baseball diamond.

In The Polls
   OSU has appeared in the national polls each of the first eight weeks of the season and is ranked as high as No. 11 this week, earning that ranking from Collegiate Baseball. The Pokes are also ranked 13th in the USA Today coaches poll, 14th by D1Baseball.com and the NCBWA and 23rd 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.

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. 13 in the latest official NCAA RPI, while UNCW is 103rd.

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 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 38.0 innings in his seven outings this season.

Four Sure
   Four of the seven starting pitchers OSU has used this season — Parker Scott, Justin Wrobleski, Bryce Osmond and Justin Campbell — have combined to go 12-5 with a 2.89 ERA and 162 strikeouts in 134.0 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 fourth nationally with five wins, while Campbell is seventh in the NCAA with a 0.55 ERA.

13 Years
   Asterisk or not due to the shortened season, Max Hewitt made history in 2020 as he became only the 18th Cowboy to hit .400 in a season and the first since Ty Wright in 2007 — Hewitt turned in a .410 batting average (25-for-61) in 18 games. An OSU player has hit .400 in season 20 times in program history.

Fear The Beard
   Brett Standlee has emerged as OSU's top arm out of the bullpen in 2021.
   In a team-high 14 relief appearances, the bearded one is 3-0 with three saves and a 0.57 ERA. In 15 2/3 innings, the right-hander has posted 26 strikeouts and allowed just one earned run, 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, 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 26 games for the Cowboys at third base, has smacked a team-high nine home runs and also leads the Pokes with 30 RBIs.
   With Encarnacion-Strand leading the way, the Cowboys have tallied 33 homers by 11 different players in 2021. Brock Mathis and Nolan McLean rank second on OSU with six round trippers apiece.

Mound Menaces
   • OSU's five shutouts this season are tied for second in the NCAA behind Louisiana Tech's six. The school record for shutouts in a season is 13, set in 1984; in 2016, the Pokes had 10.
   • The Pokes rank second in the Big 12 and 12th nationally with 292 strikeouts, and their 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings leads the conference and is ninth in the NCAA. OSU has 292 strikeouts in 231 innings.
   • Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally with a 0.55 ERA. The righty has allowed just two earned runs in his 33 innings of work.
   • 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. Little Rock on Feb. 24 to the sixth inning of his start vs. West Virginia 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 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 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 Hosts UNCW In Non-Conference Action

Game Notes (PDF)

UNC Wilmington (15-9) at #11 Oklahoma State (18-7-1)

Fri., April 9 / 6 p.m. • Sat., April 10 / 6 p.m. • Sun., April 11 / 1 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

Bryce Osmond

Parker Scott

Brett Standlee

Mitchell Stone

Justin Wrobleski

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Cowboy Baseball Hosts UNCW In Non-Conference Action

Game Notes (PDF)

UNC Wilmington (15-9) at #11 Oklahoma State (18-7-1)

Fri., April 9 / 6 p.m. • Sat., April 10 / 6 p.m. • Sun., April 11 / 1 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

Bryce Osmond

Parker Scott

Brett Standlee

Mitchell Stone

Justin Wrobleski

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Fri., April 9 / 6 p.m. • Sat., April 10 / 6 p.m. • Sun., April 11 / 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (2,700) • Stillwater, Okla.