Cowboy Baseball Set To Conclude Midweek Contests With Wichita State

Tuesday, April 25

Stillwater, OK

6:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

Wichita State

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David Mendham

Cowboy Baseball Set To Conclude Midweek Contests With Wichita State

April 24, 2023 | Cowboy Baseball

Game_Notes_20_-_Wichita_State.pdf

#25 Wichita State (24-15) at #17 Oklahoma State (28-13)

Tues., April 25 • 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
(Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
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

     • Winners of five in a row, OSU is 28-13 overall and second in the Big 12 standings with an 11-7 conference mark. Up next, the Cowboys host Wichita State Tuesday night at O'Brate Stadium before traveling to Ann Arbor for a weekend series at Michigan.
     • 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 390-212-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Region berth each year under his watch.

About Wichita State

     • Wichita State is 24-15 overall and tied for the lead in the American Athletic Conference with an 8-4 league mark. The Shockers have won six in a row, including a sweep of No. 7 East Carolina last weekend.
     • Loren Hibbs is serving as WSU's interim head coach this season. Hibbs won over 800 games in 27 seasons as the head coach at Charlotte prior to returning to his alma mater in 2019.
     • OSU is 65-36 all time against WSU, including a 14-4 mark under Josh Holliday. This week's game marks the third and final scheduled meeting of the two clubs this season; previously, the Cowboys defeated the Shockers, 10-1, on March 22 in Wichita and lost a 13-6 contest on April 4 in Stillwater.

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. 17 by Collegiate Baseball, 21st by Baseball America and 24th by USA TODAY Sports and the NCBWA.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 48 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 week No. 24 in the official NCAA RPI; Wichita State is 88th.

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 eighth in the NCAA with 431 strikeouts, and they have three pitchers — Juaron Watts-Brown, Ben Abram and Isaac Stebens — in the top six in the conference in punchouts.
     OSU's 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings this season is tops in the Big 12 and ranks 12th 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 .300 team batting average.
     • Six regulars in the OSU starting lineup are hitting at least .300. Carson Benge leads the way with a .351 average that ranks 10th in the Big 12.
     • OSU's 104 doubles rank third nationally, 10 behind national leader Virginia.
     • The Pokes have smashed a Big 12-best 76 home runs, which ranks ninth nationally. Fifteen players have homered, and Roc Riggio leads the team with 12 round trippers to rank third in the league.
     • OSU's .548 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and is 13th nationally.
     • The Cowboys rank 18th nationally with 334 runs and 25th with 422 hits.
     • OSU has posted five run-rule wins this season.

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 started 24 consecutive games at catcher (Feb. 25/Gm. 2-April 21) and 34 of OSU's last 36 contests behind the dish.
     In 36 games, Adkison is hitting .317 with four homers, seven doubles and 23 RBIs. He owns a .995 fielding percentage and has thrown out nine runners trying to steal.
     Random Fact: Adkison owns and operates a business, The Glove Plug, where he buys, sells and trades baseball gloves on Instagram (@the_glove_plug_).

Howling

     Tyler Wulfert battled injuries early in the season but has been a constant and productive force in the lineup over the last six weeks.
     The Cowboy third baseman is OSU's leading hitter in Big 12 play with a .400 average, and he has posted six home runs, six doubles and 15 RBIs in league games.
     Wulfert is hitting .341 on the season and of his 31 hits, 18 have gone for extra bases (8 HR, 9 2B, 3B) to produce a .725 slugging percentage.
    Random Fact: Wulfert's dad, Mark, was an 11th-round pick of the San Diego Padres in the 1995 MLB Draft and played two professional seasons for the Class A Clinton LumberKings.