Cowboy Baseball Heads To Kansas For Weekend Series

#24 Oklahoma State (25-13, 8-7) at Kansas (19-18, 5-7)

Fri., April 21 • 6 p.m. / Sat., April 22 • 2 p.m. / Sun., April 23 • 1 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) • Lawrence, Kan.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
(Brian Hanni & Kevin Wheeler)
Radio: 93.7 KSPI FM (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
The Varsity Network - okla.st/GetVarsity
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • OSU is 25-13 overall and fifth in the Big 12 standings with an 8-7 conference mark. Coming off a five-game homestand, the Cowboys return to action with a trip to Lawrence for a weekend series at Kansas beginning Friday night.
     • The Cowboys are coming off a 42-22 season in 2022 in which they made their ninth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. OSU finished tied for second in the Big 12 standings with a 15-9 conference mark, one game out of first place.
     • OSU was the No. 7 national seed in last year's NCAA Championship, the program's highest ever tourney seeding, and was an NCAA Regional host for the fourth time under Josh Holliday; the Pokes advanced to the NCAA Regional finals for the sixth time under Holliday.
     • Led by Nolan McLean and Roc Riggio, OSU returns six position starters and 13 letterwinners from '22.
     • The 2023 season is OSU's 11th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 387-212-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Region berth each year under his watch.

About Kansas

     • Kansas is 19-18 overall and seventh in the Big 12 standings with a 5-7 league mark.
     • Dan Fitzgerald is in his first season as the Jayhawks' head coach.
     • OSU is 149-57 all time against Kansas, including a 29-11 mark under Josh Holliday. Last season, the Cowboys swept the series in Stillwater.
     • KU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

     Friday: RHP Collin Baumgartner— 3-0, 4.21 ERA in nine starts; 46 K, 14 BB in 47.0 IP
     Saturday: RHP Sam Ireland — 4-4, 5.40 ERA in nine starts; 35 K, 16 BB in 48.1 IP
     Sunday: TBA

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

     OSU was ranked as high as No. 8 in the preseason national polls, receiving that ranking from USA TODAY Sports. This week, the Cowboys are ranked No. 24 by Baseball America and USA TODAY Sports and 26th by the NCBWA.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 47 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2021 preseason polls. The Cowboys reached No. 2 twice in 2022, marking their highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday.
     From March 4, 2013 to April 3, 2017, a streak of 77 consecutive weeks, OSU was ranked in at least one national poll. During that time, the Cowboys spent 18 weeks in the Top 10, climbing as high as No. 3. They have finished in the top 10 in the final polls twice under Josh Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 30 in the official NCAA RPI; Kansas is 116th.

K Kounter

     The 2022 OSU pitching staff shattered the program record for strikeouts in a season with 679, besting the previous mark by 91.
     The Cowboys' 679 strikeouts ranked fifth nationally, and they ranked seventh in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.7.
     With an influx of new arms, this year's staff has continued to pile up Ks. The Cowboys lead the Big 12 and rank seventh in the NCAA with 403 strikeouts, and they have three pitchers — Juaron Watts-Brown, Ben Abram and Isaac Stebens — in the top five in the conference in punchouts.
     OSU's 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings this season is tops in the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally.

Cowboys Who Rake

     OSU's offense is putting up some impressive numbers at the plate.
     • The Cowboys rank third in the Big 12 with a .298 team batting average.
     • Six regulars in the OSU starting lineup are hitting at least .300. Carson Benge leads the way with a .364 average that ranks sixth in the Big 12.
     • OSU's 92 doubles rank seventh nationally.
     • The Pokes have smashed a Big 12-best 71 home runs, which ranks eighth nationally. Fifteen players have homered, and Roc Riggio leads the team with 12 round trippers to rank third in the league.
     • OSU's .543 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and is 13th nationally.
     • The Cowboys have posted five run-rule wins this season.

Roc Rolled — And He's Doing It Again

     Roc Riggio enjoyed a Freshman All-American season in 2022, starting 53 games for the Cowboys and hitting .295 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles and 47 RBIs.
     The second baseman caught fire at the plate in the postseason and was named to the all-tournament team at both the Big 12 Baseball Championship and the NCAA Stillwater Regional. In 10 games, he hit .458 (22-for-48) with six doubles, five homers and 19 RBIs.
     Riggio is swinging a hot bat once again in 2023. He's hitting .340 and ranks in the top five in the Big 12 in home runs (12), doubles (14), total bases (102), runs (41) and slugging percentage (.723) and is in the top 10 in five other offensive categories.
    Random Fact: As an eighth grader, Riggio committed to play baseball at UCLA.

Iron Man

     Chase Adkison has been a mainstay behind the plate this season. After splitting time at catcher with Ian Daugherty over OSU's first five games (Daugherty started three of those), Adkison has been a rock at the position following an injury to Daugherty, and he has produced at the plate as well as defensively.
     Adkison has started 23 consecutive games at catcher and 32 of OSU's last 33 contests behind the dish.
     In 34 games, Adkison is hitting .316 with four homers, seven doubles and 21 RBIs. He owns a .995 fielding percentage and has thrown out nine runners trying to steal, the second-highest total in the Big 12.
     Random Fact: Adkison owns and operates a business, The Glove Plug, where he buys, sells and trades baseball gloves on Instagram (@the_glove_plug_).

#24 Oklahoma State (25-13, 8-7) at Kansas (19-18, 5-7)

Fri., April 21 • 6 p.m. / Sat., April 22 • 2 p.m. / Sun., April 23 • 1 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) • Lawrence, Kan.

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Players Mentioned

Ben Abram

Chase Adkison

Carson Benge

Ian Daugherty

Nolan McLean

Roc Riggio

Isaac Stebens

Juaron Watts-Brown

Oklahoma State University Athletics