Cowboy Baseball Faces Texas In Top 10 Showdown

Game Notes

#7 Oklahoma State (27-13, 10-5) at #6 Texas (30-13, 9-6)

Fri., April 29 • 6:30 p.m. / Sat., April 30 • 2:30 p.m. / Sun., May 1 • 1 p.m.
UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649) • Austin, Texas

Video/TV: Longhorn Network (Keith Moreland & Greg Swindell)
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 28-13 overall and second in the Big 12 standings with a 10-5 conference mark. Up next, the seventh-ranked Cowboys travel to Austin for a top-10 matchup with No. 6 Texas.
     • 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 348-190-2 at his alma mater.

About Texas
     • Texas is 31-13 on the season and tied for third in the Big 12 standings with a 9-6 league mark. The Longhorns are hitting .320 while their pitching staff sports a 3.90 ERA, both of which lead the conference.
     • David Pierce is in his sixth season as UT's head coach, where he owns a 202-107 record.
     • UT's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
     Friday: LHP Pete Hansen — 7-1, 2.70 ERA in 10 starts, 76 K, 12 BB in 63.1 IP
     Saturday: RHP Tristan Stevens — 5-4, 4.50 ERA in 10 starts, 39 K, 16 BB in 48.0 IP
     Sunday: LHP Lucas Gordon — 4-1, 3.00 ERA in 11 appearances (nine starts), 34 K, 9 BB in 52.0 IP

Cowboys vs. Longhorns
     OSU is 48-64 all time against Texas, including a 20-11 mark under Josh Holliday. In 2021, the Pokes went 2-2 against the Horns, dropping the regular season series but winning a game in the Big 12 Championship.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
     In this week's national rankings, OSU checks in as high as No. 7 in the USA Today coaches poll. The Cowboys are also No. 8 in the Baseball America, D1Baseball and NCBWA rankings, No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball poll and are ranked 10th by Perfect Game.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 29 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2021 preseason polls; the Cowboys reached No. 2 twice this season, marking their highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday.
     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. 27 in the official NCAA RPI, while Texas is No. 8.

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 11-game winning streak in March 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 .983 fielding percentage ranks seventh in the NCAA; the Pokes have made 26 errors in 2022.

If You Build It...
     OSU ranks seventh nationally in average home attendance; in 21 home dates at O'Brate Stadium this season, the Cowboys are averaging 5,595 fans.

'K'onsistency
     Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 and ranks sixth nationally with 95 strikeouts. He has posted double digit strikeout totals four times and has struck out at least eight in nine of his 10 starts. He racked up a career-high 14 punchouts in the series opener against TCU.
     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 .333 batting average and 41 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 52 of OSU's last 57 games, including a streak of 25 consecutive games during that stretch, and he leads the Cowboys with 15 multi-hit and 11 multi-RBI 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 3.34 ERA in a team-high 22 appearances (20 in relief). He is second in the Big 12 with nine saves and has 46 strikeouts in 29.2 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 10th nationally in saves.
     Martin is one of 62 relief pitchers on the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award Midseason Watch List.
     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.
     A first baseman/DH, Mendham has provided a consistent bat in the middle of the order. He's hit safely in 19 of OSU's last 26 games, including posting a nine-game hitting streak.
     Mendham has raised his season batting average from .194 after the March 16th game against DBU to its current .289 mark, which is fourth on the team.
     Mendham leads OSU with 13 doubles and is second with 27 RBIs.

What Can Brown Do For You
     Marcus Brown has been on a tear at the plate over the last month, raising his batting average from .256 prior to the start of conference play to .313, which ranks second on the Cowboys.
     Brown is on a 13-game hitting streak, the longest by an OSU player this season, and he is the Cowboys' leading hitter in Big 12 play with a .400 average, which also ranks fifth in the conference.

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 nine home runs and is second with 11 doubles. He has hit safely in 19 of OSU's last 22 contests.
     McLean, a hard-throwing right-hander, has also made 13 relief appearances on the season and is 1-0 with two saves; he has racked up 28 strikeouts in 16.0 innings. He recorded his first-career save at Wichita State on April 5 and notched his first win vs. Oklahoma on April 9.

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 pitcher is also one of 45 players on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award midseason 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 2.25 ERA in 18 relief appearances, and he's struck out 31 while walking 12 in 36.0 innings of work.
     Phansalkar owns a 2.51 ERA in conference-only games, having allowed just four earned runs in 14.1 innings over a team-high eight appearances.

Armed & Dangerous
     OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 with a 4.19 ERA and leads the league in strikeouts with 459 and opponent batting average, with teams hitting just .229 against the Cowboys.
     The Pokes have allowed the third-fewest walks in the conference with 153.
     Justin Campbell ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.89 ERA, while four other Cowboys with at least nine appearances sport ERAs under 4.00.

K Kounter
     OSU's pitching staff ranks fifth nationally with 459 strikeouts, and the Cowboys are seventh in the NCAA with an average of 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings.

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 game two of the Bedlam Series, OSU plated three runs in the eighth, tying the game on a two-run homer by Roc Riggio, and won the game on a walkoff wild pitch in the ninth.

Game Notes

#7 Oklahoma State (27-13, 10-5) at #6 Texas (30-13, 9-6)

Fri., April 29 • 6:30 p.m. / Sat., April 30 • 2:30 p.m. / Sun., May 1 • 1 p.m.
UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649) • Austin, Texas

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Players Mentioned

Marcus Brown

Justin Campbell

Trevor Martin

Nolan McLean

Victor Mederos

David Mendham

Roman Phansalkar

Roc Riggio

Jake Thompson

Oklahoma State University Athletics