Cowboy Baseball Headed For Big League Experience In Arlington

Tuesday, February 22

Arlington, TX

6:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

Sam Houston

Tickets

Cowboy Baseball Headed For Big League Experience In Arlington

February 21, 2022 | Cowboy Baseball

Game Notes

vs. Sam Houston (3-1)
#3 Oklahoma State (2-1)

Tues., Feb. 22 • 6:30 p.m.
Globe Life Field (40,300) • Arlington, Texas

Video/TV: N/A
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM/stillwaterradio.net (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State
     • OSU opened the 2022 season with a series win at top-ranked Vanderbilt, winning the final two games of the series in Nashville. Up next, the Cowboys will battle Sam Houston at Globe Life Field Tuesday night before hosting Wright State in their home opening series this weekend at O'Brate Stadium.
     • The Cowboys are coming off a 36-19-1 season in 2021 in which they earned an eighth consecutive NCAA Regional berth. OSU finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference standings at 12-12.
     • OSU returns 13 letterwinners from a year ago, including four position starters and nine pitchers. Highlighting the list are Preseason All-Americans Justin Campbell, Victor Mederos and Nolan McLean, as well as Jake Thompson, a Preseason All-Big 12 pick along with Campbell and McLean.
     • The 2022 season is OSU's 10th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 322-178-2 at his alma mater.

About Sam Houston
     • Sam Houston hosted Nebraska on opening weekend and defeated the Cornhuskers in three of the four games. Offensively, the Bearkats hit .291 against NU, while their pitching staff posted a 4.24 ERA.
     • Jay Sirianni is in his third season as Sam Houston's head coach and owns a 40-33 career record.
     • The Bearkats are expected to start right-hander Cole Wesneski on the mound. Wesneski has made one relief appearance this season and is 1-0 with a 6.00 ERA to go along with four strikeouts in three innings of work.

Cowboys vs. Bearkats
     Oklahoma State is 5-5 all time against Sam Houston (State), but the two programs have not met on the diamond since 1989 at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Austin, Texas. In that game, the Cowboys were 6-5 victors.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
     With its opening weekend series win at Vanderbilt, OSU moved up the national rankings this week. After being ranked as high as No. 7 in the preseason, the Cowboys come in at No. 3 in this week's Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls, matching their highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday. The Pokes are also No. 4 in the D1Baseball and Perfect Game polls and No. 5 in the NCBWA 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 under Josh Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.

High Five
    Oklahoma State entered the 2022 season as the fifth-winningest team in NCAA baseball history in terms of winning percentage at .661.

2,706 & Counting
     Oklahoma State began the 2022 season 14th on the NCAA's all-time Division I wins list with 2,706. The Cowboys are one of only 14 programs in Division I history to reach 2,700 victories, and of those, only one — Florida State — has played fewer seasons than OSU's 110.

Building A Winner
     In nine seasons as head coach at his alma mater, Josh Holliday has built a sparkling resume.
     • The Cowboys have earned eight 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 71 All-Big 12 performers, seven All-Americans, two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honorees, two Big 12 Newcomer of the Year winners and a Big 12 Player 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 at OSU, joining Gary Ward (953), Frank Anderson (329) and Toby Greene (318), and he now ranks third on the all-time wins list with 320.

Close Calls
     OSU is 79-47 in one-run games under Josh Holliday, and 81 of the Cowboys' 178 losses under Holliday have come by two runs or less.

Armed & Dangerous
     In nine seasons under Rob Walton's direction, OSU's pitching staff has posted impressive numbers.
     The Cowboys' success under Walton includes 26 All-Big 12 pitchers, four All-Americans (three of those first-teamers), two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year winners and 22 MLB Draft picks, including a first rounder.
     More of how the Cowboys have performed under Walton, who was named the 2016 ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year:
     • Four of OSU's pitching staffs under Walton recorded an ERA of 3.29 or lower.
     • In 2016, the Cowboys led the Big 12 with 574 strikeouts, 10 shutouts and 21 saves, totals that each ranked as the second highest in a single season in school history.
     • OSU's pitching staff led the Big 12 in ERA in conference-only games in 2014 (2.43) and 2015 (2.50).
     • The Pokes' 2.84 ERA in 2015 ranked eighth nationally and was the lowest by an OSU staff since 1973.
     • OSU recorded seven shutouts in 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2021, and the Pokes had 10 in 2016, the second most in a single season in program history. Those totals also mark five of only eight times in program history the Cowboys have tallied seven shutouts or more in a season; in the 26 seasons prior to 2013, OSU reached seven shutouts only once.
     • Jason Hursh was a first-round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, Brendan McCurry (2014), Michael Freeman (2015) and Thomas Hatch (2016) were first-team All-Americans and Freeman and Hatch (2016) were named Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.

Go Pro
     During Josh Holliday's tenure as head coach, OSU has had 49 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft. Fifteen of those were top 10 round picks, including 2013 first-rounder Jason Hursh.
    In 2016, OSU tied a program record with 11 MLB Draft picks. (The 2007 Cowboys also had 11 draftees). The 11 draft picks tied the Cowboys with Mississippi State for the third most of any Division I program in 2016 behind only Texas A&M (13) and Southern California (12). Five of those went in the first 10 rounds, which marked the most top-10-round picks for OSU since five Pokes were taken in the top-10 rounds in 2008. Seven of the OSU players drafted were pitchers.
     In 2019, OSU's eight draft picks tied for the ninth most of any Division I program; all eight were selected in the first 30 rounds, tying the Cowboys for the fifth-highest total in Division I.

Everybody's Golden All-American
     Justin Campbell is a consensus Preseason First-Team All-American as he earned that distinction from D1Baseball, Perfect Game and the NCBWA.
      The Cowboy right-hander is also one of 55 players on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List.

All-American Cowboys
     Joining Justin Campbell on the list of OSU Preseason All-Americans are Victor Mederos and Nolan McLean. Mederos was a Preseason All-America Second Team selection by Baseball America, while McLean earned third-team honors from D1Baseball.

Big 12 Love For The Pokes
     OSU was picked by league coaches to finish second behind Texas in the 2022 Big 12 Conference standings. Three Cowboys - Justin Campbell, Nolan McLean and Jake Thompson - were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, while Victor Mederos was named the Preseason Newcomer of the Year and Roc Riggio the Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Cowboys Of Summer
     A number of Cowboys had successful stints in various summer leagues in 2021.
     • Marcus Brown - Named the Appalachian League Player of the Year. Hit .407 and led Elizabethton
     River Riders in RBIs, runs and walks.
     • Justin Campbell - Played for Team USA Collegiate National Team.
     • Lyle Miller-Green - Led Cape Cod League in RBIs as a member of the Chatham Anglers.
     • John Bay - Led the Appalachian League with 10 home runs
     • Griffin Doersching - Second in the Northwoods League with nine homers
     • Jaxson Crull - Appalachian League All-Star
     • Chase Adkison - Appalachian League All-Star
     • Jimmy Ramsey - College Summer League All-Star
     • Jake Thompson - Cape Cod League All-Star, led Brewster Whitecaps to championship
     • Roman Phansalkar - California Collegiate League All-Star and champion
     • Trevor Martin - 27 K in 19.1 IP for Chatham in Cape Cod League, named team's Most Outstanding
     Reliever

Change Of Scenery
     OSU added six Division I transfers to its roster for 2022 - Victor Mederos (Miami), Bayden Root (Ohio State), Jimmy Ramsey (Kentucky), Dillon Marsh (Kentucky), David Mendham (South Carolina) and Griffin Doersching (Northern Kentucky). Additionally, the Cowboys have four new JUCO transfers with D1 experience - Lyle Miller-Green (George Mason), Brett Brown (Texas A&M), Solomon Washington (Tennessee Tech) and Chase Adkison (Boise State).