Cowboy Baseball Hosts Wichita State

Game Notes

Wichita State (13-18) at #3 Oklahoma State (23-9)

Tues., April 12 • 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
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 23-9 overall and tied for second in the Big 12 standings with a 7-2 conference mark. Up next, the third-ranked Cowboys host Wichita State on Tuesday night at O'Brate Stadium before traveling to Morgantown to take on league-leading West Virginia this weekend.
     • 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 343-186-2 at his alma mater.

About Wichita State
     • Wichita State is 13-18 on the season, including a 2-12 mark on the road. The Shockers are hitting .242 while their pitching staff sports a 5.33 ERA.
     • Eric Wedge is in his third season as WSU's head coach and owns a career 57-43 record. He spent 10 seasons as a Major League Baseball manager with stints at Cleveland and Seattle.
     • WSU's starting pitcher against the Cowboys is expected to be left-hander Jace Miner, who is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in seven appearances and has eight strikeouts and nine walks in 12.0 innings of work.

Cowboys vs. Shockers
     OSU is 63-35 all time against Wichita State, including an 11-3 mark under Josh Holliday. The Cowboys were 5-3 winners at WSU on April 5.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
     In this week's national rankings, OSU checks in as high as No. 3 in the Baseball America and Perfect Game polls. The Cowboys are ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 5 by D1Baseball, No. 6 in the USA Today coaches poll and No. 7 by the NCBWA.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 27 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2021 preseason polls. Its highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday came March 28 when they were No. 2 in the Perfect Game poll.
     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. 21 in the official NCAA RPI, while Wichita State is No. 112.

Flashing The Leather
     OSU's .984 fielding percentage ranks second in the NCAA; the Pokes have made 19 errors in 2022.

If You Build It...
     OSU ranks seventh nationally in average home attendance; in 16 home dates at O'Brate Stadium this season, the Cowboys are averaging 5,646 fans.

'K'onsistency
     Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally with 73 strikeouts. He has posted double digit strikeout totals three times and has struck out at least eight in seven of his eight starts.
     In 2021, Campbell struck out 10 or more in five of his 13 starts and had six games of eight-plus Ks.

Jake Rakes
     With a team-leading .331 batting average and 31 RBIs, Jake Thompson has established himself as one of the Big 12's top hitters.
     Thompson, who Josh Holliday calls one of the best two-strike hitters he's ever coached, has reached base safely in 44 of OSU's last 48 games, including a streak of 25 consecutive games during that stretch, and he leads the Cowboys with 12 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.
     Martin hails from Asher, Oklahoma, population 412, and the right-hander is 1-2 with a Big 12-best nine saves in a team-high 17 stints out of the bullpen this season. He's also tallied 30 strikeouts in 18.0 innings of work. He's already tied for fifth on OSU's single-season saves list - and one away from moving into a tie for second - and he ranks fourth nationally in saves and 18th 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 hit safely in 14 of the Cowboys' last 17 games, including posting a nine-game hitting streak, the longest by a Cowboy this season.
     Mendham has raised his season batting average from .194 after the March 16th game against DBU to its current .298 mark, which ranks third on the team. He is OSU's leading hitter in Big 12 play at .314.
     Mendham leads OSU with 10 doubles and is second with 20 RBIs and a .500 slugging percentage.

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 .319 batting average and has hit safely in 24 of the 29 games in which he's had a plate appearance, including turning in 11 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 seven home runs and is second with eight doubles. He has hit safely in 11 of OSU's last 13 contests.
     McLean, a hard-throwing right-hander, has also made nine relief appearances on the season and has racked up 18 strikeouts in 10.0 innings. He recorded his first-career save at Wichita State on April 5 and notched his first win vs. Oklahoma on April 9.

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 2.10 ERA in 14 relief appearances, and he's struck out 22 while walking just seven in 30.0 innings of work.
     Phansalkar ranks fifth in the Big 12 with a 1.80 ERA in conference-only games, having allowed just two earned runs in 10 innings.

Armed & Dangerous
     OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 with a 3.98 ERA and is tops in the league in opponent batting average, with teams hitting just .226 against the Cowboys.
     The Pokes also rank second in the league in strikeouts with 348 (16 shy of the leader) and have allowed the third-fewest walks with 117 (nine more than the lowest).
     Justin Campbell ranks eighth in the conference with a 3.40 ERA, while six other Cowboys with at least seven appearances sport ERAs under 4.00.

Late-Inning Heroics
    The Cowboys have shown a flair for the dramatic to find success late in games and emerge victorious.
     • In the series finale and rubber game at Vanderbilt, the Cowboys scored two runs in the ninth inning to break a 5-5 tie and claim the win.
     • The Cowboys trailed Wright State 6-2 in the ninth inning of the second game of their Sunday doubleheader but scored four runs to send the game to extra innings before getting a walk-off win in the 10th.
     • OSU was down 4-1 after seven innings in its series opener at Arizona State but plated four runs in the eighth inning and two in the ninth to secure a 7-5 victory.
     • In game two of the BYU series, neither team had scored entering the eighth inning. The Pokes rallied for three runs with two outs and went on to a 3-0 win.
     • Trailing 4-3 in the seventh against DBU, the Cowboys rallied for two runs in the inning en route to a 5-4 win.
     • Jake Thompson's two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning in the series finale against Seton Hall snapped a 3-3 tie in a game OSU went on to win 6-4.
     • The Pokes trailed 3-1 with two outs in the eighth inning at Wichita State before rallying for three runs and going on to a 5-3 win.
     • Down 7-4 after seven innings in the second game of the Bedlam Series, OSU plated three runs in the eighth, tying the game on a two-run homer by Roc Riggio, then won the game on a walkoff wild pitch in the ninth.

Game Notes

Wichita State (13-18) at #3 Oklahoma State (23-9)

Tues., April 12 • 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

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Players Mentioned

Justin Campbell

Zach Ehrhard

Trevor Martin

Nolan McLean

Victor Mederos

David Mendham

Roman Phansalkar

Roc Riggio

Jake Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics