Cowboy Baseball Faces First Big 12 Road Test

Game Notes

#2 Oklahoma State (18-7, 3-0) at Kansas State (13-11, 0-3)

Fri., April 1 • 6 p.m. / Sat., April 2 • 4 p.m. / Sun., April 3 • 1 p.m.
Tointon Family Stadium (2,344) • Manhattan, Kan.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now On ESPN+ (Brian Smoller, Mike Clark, Katherine Benhardt)
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 is 18-7 on the season and opened Big 12 Conference play with a series sweep of Kansas last weekend in Stillwater to put the Pokes atop the league standings. The second-ranked Cowboys return to conference play this weekend at Kansas State.
     • 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 334-184-2 at his alma mater.

About Kansas State
     • K-State is 13-11 on the season and opened conference play by getting swept at TCU. The Wildcats are hitting .300 while their pitching staff sports a 5.38 ERA.
     • Pete Hughes is in his fifth season as KSU's head coach and owns an 82-74 record. He's also had head coaching stints at Trinity, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma and compiled over 700 career wins.
     • KSU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
     Friday: RHP Blake Corsentino — 1-1, 2.82 ERA in eight appearances (1 start), 16 K, 5 BB in 22.1 IP
     Saturday: RHP Connor McCullough — 3-1, 3.41 ERA in six starts, 34 K, 12 BB in 34.1 IP
     Sunday: TBA

Cowboys vs. Wildcats
     OSU is 171-51 all time against Kansas State, including a 22-3 mark under Josh Holliday. The Cowboys swept the Wildcats last season in Stillwater.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
     In this week's national rankings, OSU checks in as high as No. 2 in the Perfect Game poll, which marks its highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday. The Cowboys are also ranked No. 6 by D1Baseball and Baseball America, No. 8 by the NCBWA, No. 9 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball.
     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.

RPI
     OSU currently sits at No. 24 in the official NCAA RPI, while Kansas State is No. 152.

Big Time In Big 12
     Entering the 2022 conference schedule, Josh Holliday ranked fifth all time among head coaches in winning percentage in Big 12 play at .597. In his first eight seasons, he led the Pokes to a 111-75 mark.

We're Going Streaking
     OSU's recent 11-game winning streak was the third longest of the Josh Holliday head coaching era. The Pokes won 14 in a row in 2020-21 (last five games of COVID shortened '20 season and first nine of '21) and went on a 12-game win streak in 2014.
     The program record for longest winning streak is 30 games, set by the 1986 Cowboys.

Flashing The Leather
     OSU's .989 fielding percentage leads the NCAA; the Pokes have made only 10 errors on the season.

If You Build It...
     OSU ranks eighth nationally in average home attendance; in 13 games at O'Brate Stadium this season, the Cowboys are averaging 5,334 fans.

'K'onsistency
     Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 and ranks seventh nationally with 58 strikeouts. He has posted double digit strikeout totals three times and has struck out at least eight in all six of his starts on the season.
     In 2021, Campbell struck out 10 or more in five of his 13 starts and had six games of eight-plus Ks.

Jake Rakes
     Jake Thompson has established himself as one of the Big 12's top hitters, sporting a .368 batting average that ranks seventh in the conference. He is also in the top 10 in the league with 35 hits, 19 walks and a .478 on-base percentage.
     Thompson, who Josh Holliday calls one of the best two-strike hitters he's ever coached, has reached base safely in 39 of OSU's last 41 games, including a streak of 25 consecutive games during that stretch, and he leads the Cowboys with 11 multi-hit games.
     A sixth-year graduate student who has found a home at his fourth college stop, Thompson is OSU's leading returning hitter after posting a .342 batting average last season, and he was the Big 12's top hitter in conference-only games in 2021 with a .393 average.

Small Town, Big Time
     What is it about OSU closers and small towns?! We don't know, but Trevor Martin is continuing a trend this season.
     Martin hails from Asher, Oklahoma, population 412, and the right-hander is 1-1 with a Big 12-best seven saves in a team-high 14 stints out of the bullpen this season. He's also tallied 27 strikeouts in 15 innings of work. He ranks fourth nationally in saves and 12th in appearances.
     In 2014, Brendan McCurry set OSU's single-season saves record with 19 to earn first-team All-America honors. A native of Tupelo, Oklahoma, population 330, McCurry is also the Cowboys' leader in career saves with 27. His brother, Randy, had 10 saves in 2009 and finished his career with a dozen.
     Another small-town Oklahoma kid, Jordy Mercer, from Taloga, Oklahoma, population 300, served as OSU's closer from 2006-08 and ranks second on OSU's all-time list with 17 saves.

Canadian Cowboy
     David Mendham's baseball journey has taken him from his native Canada to Oklahoma to South Carolina and back to Oklahoma, where he appears to have found a home in Stillwater.
     The OSU first baseman is on a tear at the plate, where he's on a nine-game hitting streak, the longest by a Cowboy this season.
     During the streak, Mendham is 14-of-34 (.412) and has raised his season batting average from .194 after the Cowboys' March 16th game against DBU to its current .308 mark.
     Mendham leads OSU with a .569 slugging percentage and eight doubles and is second with 19 RBIs.

Fab Frosh
     True freshman Zach Ehrhard has established himself at the top of the OSU lineup as one of the Cowboys' most consistent bats.
     Primarily OSU's right fielder, Ehrhard is second on the team with a .322 batting average and has hit safely in 15 of the 22 games he's played, including turning in eight multi-hit efforts.

Two-Way Talent
     Nolan McLean's powerful bat has been a fixture in the middle of the Cowboys' order throughout the season, and he has also seen increased work on the mound of late.
     The sophomore leads the Cowboys with five home runs and is third with six doubles. He has hit safely in six of OSU's last seven contests, raising his batting average 38 points in the process.
     McLean, a hard-throwing right-hander, has made six relief appearances - five of those in March - and has racked up 15 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.

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.

Roman's Numerals
     Roman Phansalkar is having a career year as a key part of OSU's bullpen.
     In his first two seasons at OSU spanning 2020 and 2021, the righty pitched in 15 games and had 21 walks and 17 strikeouts while allowing 26 runs (19 earned) in 19 1/3 innings.
     This season, Phansalkar is 3-2 with a 2.05 ERA in 10 relief appearances, and he's struck out 17 while walking only four in 22 innings of work.

Armed & Dangerous
     Oklahoma State's pitching staff leads the Big 12 with a 3.47 ERA and is also tops in the league in opponents batting average, with teams hitting just .217 against the Cowboys.
     The Pokes rank second in the league in strikeouts with 284 (11 shy of the leader) and have allowed the second-fewest walks with 85 (one more than the next lowest).
     Justin Campbell ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.11 ERA while four other Cowboys with at least six appearances sport ERAs under 2.50.

Game Notes

#2 Oklahoma State (18-7, 3-0) at Kansas State (13-11, 0-3)

Fri., April 1 • 6 p.m. / Sat., April 2 • 4 p.m. / Sun., April 3 • 1 p.m.
Tointon Family Stadium (2,344) • Manhattan, Kan.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Zach Ehrhard

Trevor Martin

Nolan McLean

Victor Mederos

David Mendham

Roman Phansalkar

Roc Riggio

Jake Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics