2023 Oklahoma State Cowboy Baseball Season Superlatives

• Oklahoma State ended the season with a 41-20 record, marking its second-straight 40-win season and sixth under head coach Josh Holliday.

• OSU won the second Big 12 Conference regular season championship in program history, joining the 2014 title-winning ballclub. With a 15-9 league mark, the Cowboys shared the title with Texas and West Virginia. OSU has finished in the top two of the league standings seven times in 10 seasons under Josh Holliday.

• The Cowboys earned a 10^th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.

• OSU's NCAA Regional berth was the 48^th in program history, which ranks as the fourth most in NCAA history.

• OSU was selected to host an NCAA Regional for the fifth time under Josh Holliday and the second consecutive season.

• The Cowboys earned the No. 11 national seed in the NCAA Baseball Championship. They were a No. 1 Regional seed for the sixth time under Holliday.

• The Cowboys were ranked in at least one national poll every week during the 2023 season, running their streak of consecutive weeks in the rankings to 54 dating back to 2021. OSU finished as high as No. 22 in the final rankings, earning that spot from Perfect Game; the Pokes were also ranked 23^rd in the final Baseball America poll.

• OSU came in at No. 17 in the final NCAA RPI.

• Cowboy Baseball raised its total number of All-America honors to 137.

• Nolan Schubart collected multiple All-America honors. He was named to the All-America Third Team by Collegiate Baseball, the NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings.

• Roc Riggio was named to the Collegiate Baseball All-America Third Team.

• Isaac Stebens earned NCBWA All-America Third Team honors.

• Nolan Schubart collected Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball, the NCBWA, Perfect Game/Rawlings, D1Baseball and Baseball America. He was named to the first team by Perfect Game and earned second-team honors from the NCBWA, D1Baseball and Baseball America.

• Carson Benge was named to the NCBWA Freshman All-America Second Team as a utility player.

• Roc Riggio was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy.

• Carson Benge and Nolan McLean were semifinalists for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award.

• Isaac Stebens was a semifinalist for the College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Year.

• Two Cowboys were named ABCA/Rawlings All-Central Region, with Nolan Schubart making the first team and Roc Riggio selected for the second team.

• Carson Benge was named to the NCAA Stillwater Regional All-Tournament Team.

• OSU had 10 players garner All-Big 12 accolades in 2023. The Cowboys had nine combined first- and second-team selections, which tied a program record.

• Nolan Schubart was named the Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year. He became just the second Big 12 Freshman of the Year in OSU history, joining Matt Smith, who earned that acclaim in 1998.

• Tyler Wulfert earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors. He is the fifth Cowboy to earn that honor, joining Tyler Mach (2006), Zach Johnson (2011), Matt Kroon (2018) and Christian Encarnacion-Strand (2021).

• OSU had three players named to the All-Big 12 First Team – Carson Benge (UT), Roc Riggio (INF) and Nolan Schubart (OF).

• The Cowboys placed six on the All-Big 12 Second Team, tying a program record for second teamers previously set in 2008. Carson Benge (OF), Chase Adkison (C), Colin Brueggemann (DH), Nolan McLean (UT), Isaac Stebens (RP) and Tyler Wulfert (INF) were second-team selections.

• Carson Benge became the fourth player in OSU history to earn All-Big 12 honors at two different positions in the same season, joining Jordy Mercer, Justin Campbell and Nolan McLean on that list. He was named All-Big 12 First Team as a utility player and All-Big 12 Second Team as an outfielder.

• Starting pitchers Ben Abram and Juaron Watts-Brown were All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selections, while Nolan McLean was an honorable mention pick as a relief pitcher.

• Nolan Schubart and Carson Benge were named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team. Both were unanimous selections.

• Nolan Schubart and Carson Benge joined a select group as two of only 27 freshmen in Big 12 history to have been named All-Big 12 First Team. They joined Corey Brown (2005), Jordy Mercer (2006) and Justin Campbell (2021) as Cowboys to earn that distinction.

• OSU advanced to the Big 12 Championship final for the sixth time under Josh Holliday.

• Marcus Brown, David Mendham and Brennan Phillips were named to the Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team.

• The Cowboys collected 12 Big 12 Conference weekly awards on the season.

Janzen Keisel – Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, Feb. 27
Nolan McLean – Big 12 Player of the Week, March 6
Nolan Schubart – Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week, March 6
Roc Riggio – Big 12 Player of the Week, March 13
Juaron Watts-Brown – Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, March 13
Carson Benge – Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, March 27
Juaron Watts-Brown – Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, April 3
Tyler Wulfert – Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, April 24
Roc Riggio – Big 12 Player of the Week, May 8
Nolan Schubart – Newcomer of the Week, May 8
Chase Adkison – Big 12 Co-Player of the Week, May 15
Nolan Schubart – Big 12 Newcomer of Week, May 15

• OSU smashed 108 home runs. It marked the first time the Cowboys had reached 100 homers in a season since 1999.

• The OSU pitching staff racked up 627 strikeouts. It marked the second consecutive season the Cowboys topped 600 Ks in a season, which is the only two times in program history it has occurred.

• The Cowboys' .980 fielding percentage tied a program record previously set in 2012.

• OSU posted a .301 team batting average. It marked the first time the Cowboys had hit .300 since 2010.

• Seven regulars in the OSU lineup hit .300 or better, led by Carson Benge at .345.

• OSU's .536 slugging percentage marked its highest since the 1999 season. Roc Riggio led the way at .679.

• OSU ranked prominently in the Big 12 and nationally in a number of statistical categories, including:
    Strikeouts Per Nine Innings: 10.7 – 1^st in Big 12, 7^th nationally
    Doubles: 144 – 1^st in Big 12, 8^th nationally
    Slugging Pct.: .536 – 1^st in Big 12, 13^th nationally
    Fielding Pct.: .980 – 1^st in Big 12, 15^th nationally
    Runs: 505 – 3^rd in Big 12, 16^th nationally
    Home Runs: 108 – 1^st in Big 12, 18^th nationally
    Scoring: 8.3 runs per game – 1^st in Big 12, 20^th nationally
    Batting Avg.: .301 – 2^nd in Big 12, 35^th nationally

• The Cowboys' 144 doubles was the program's highest total since 2007.

• OSU's .402 on-base percentage was its highest since 2008. Carson Benge led the Cowboys at .468.

• Juaron Watts-Brown recorded 124 strikeouts, the 10^th most in a single season in program history.

• Juaron Watts-Brown led the Big 12 and ranked 10^th nationally in strikeouts with 124, and his 13.55 strikeouts per nine innings was sixth in the NCAA.

• Isaac Stebens led the Big 12 with a 2.24 ERA, which also ranked 10^th nationally.

• Nolan Schubart led OSU with 74 RBIs, the most in a season by a Cowboy since 2007.

• Among all NCAA Division I freshmen, Nolan Schubart ranked second in RBIs (74), third in doubles (20), sixth in total bases (144), walks (43) and slugging percentage (.667) and seventh in home runs (17).

• Josh Holliday reached the 400-win milestone with OSU's victory over West Virginia at the Big 12 Championship.

• OSU ranked 11^th nationally in average home attendance at 5,074 fans per game. In its 32 home dates, O'Brate Stadium counted 162,378 fans, which was also 11^th in the nation.

• The Cowboys had six players selected in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft.
    • Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP, 3^rd round, pick 89 – Toronto Blue Jays
    • Nolan McLean, Two-way player, 3^rd round, pick 91 – New York Mets
    • Roc Riggio, 2B, 4^th round, pick 129 – New York Yankees
    • Marcus Brown, SS, 5^th round, pick 138 – Washington Nationals
    • Brian Hendry, RHP, 10^th round, pick 312 – New York Yankees
    • Isaac Stebens, RHP, 16^th round, pick 478 – Boston Red Sox

• OSU's five picks in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft tied for the second-most in program history. A record seven Cowboys were top 10 round picks in 2022, and the Pokes previously had five selections in 1984, 2008 and 2016.

• OSU had 11 players earn Academic All-Big 12 honors, with nine of those on the first team. Making the list were Drew Blake, Marcus Brown, Jaxson Crull, Ian Daugherty, Zach Ehrhard, Nolan McLean, David Mendham, Bayden Root and Riley Taylor. On the second team for the Cowboys were Chase Adkison and Aidan Meola.

• Ryan Bogusz, Marcus Brown, Jaxson Crull, Zach Ehrhard and David Mendham were named to the CSC Academic All-District Team.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Ben Abram

Chase Adkison

Carson Benge

Drew Blake

Ryan Bogusz

Marcus Brown

Colin Brueggemann

Justin Campbell

Jaxson Crull

Ian Daugherty

Zach Ehrhard

Brian Hendry

Janzen Keisel

Nolan McLean

David Mendham

Aidan Meola

Brennan Phillips

Roc Riggio

Bayden Root

Nolan Schubart

Isaac Stebens

Riley Taylor

Juaron Watts-Brown

Tyler Wulfert

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