Cowboy Baseball Opens 2024 Season On Road

#21 Oklahoma State at Sam Houston

Fri., Feb. 16 • 6:30 p.m. / Sat., Feb. 17 • 3 p.m. / Sun., Feb. 18 • 1 p.m.

Don Sanders Stadium (1,163) • Huntsville, Texas

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Fri. & Sun.)

Radio: 93.7 KSPI FM/780 AM (Fri.)

Pete 94.3 FM/780 AM (Sat.-Sun.)

The Varsity Network - okla.st/GetVarsity

(Rex Holt & Matt Davis)

Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com

X In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

• OSU is coming off a 41-20 season in 2023 in which the Cowboys earned their 10th consecutive NCAA Regional bid. It marked the second-straight 40-win season for the Pokes and the sixth under head coach Josh Holliday.

• The Cowboys shared the Big 12 regular season championship with Texas and West Virginia after finishing 15-9 in conference play.

• OSU returns six position starters, four of those All-Big 12 performers, from a year ago.

• The 2024 season is OSU's 12th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 403-219-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About Sam Houston

• Sam Houston finished 39-24 last season, winning the WAC Tournament championship and earning a bid to the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional. The Bearkats are picked to finish fourth in Conference USA this season behind DBU, Liberty and Louisiana Tech, and they have four players on the Preseason All-CUSA Team.

• Jay Sirianni is in his fifth season as Sam Houston's head coach and owns a career 107-81 record.

• OSU is 5-6 all time against Sam Houston, including an 0-1 mark under Josh Holliday. The two teams last met in 2022 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, with the Bearkats winning 6-3 in 10 innings.

• The Bearkats' starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

Friday: RHP Coltin Atkinson — 9-5, 4.80 ERA in 17 starts last season; 70 K, 29 BB in 84.1 IP

Saturday: LHP Marshall Wales — 2-6, 5.43 ERA in 18 appearances (9 starts); 44 K, 18 BB in 53.0 IP

Sunday: RHP Miles Hellums — 0-1, 6.52 ERA in 16 appearances (1 start); 27 K, 29 BB in 29.0 IP

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

OSU is ranked as high as No. 21 in the preseason national polls, receiving that ranking from Baseball America. The Cowboys are also ranked 22nd by Perfect Game and 29th by the NCBWA.

OSU has been nationally ranked for 55 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.

The Pokes have finished in the top 10 in the final polls twice under Josh Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.

Streakers

With 10 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances, OSU owns the nation's fourth-longest current streak behind only Vanderbilt (17), Florida (15) and LSU (11).

Crown Them

With a 15-9 record, OSU claimed a share of the 2023 Big 12 regular season championship along with Texas and West Virginia.

The title marked the second regular-season Big 12 championship in program history, joining OSU's 2014 team, and its fifth Big 12 championship as the Cowboys won tourney titles in 2004, 2017 and 2019.

OSU counts 34 conference championships in program history; it also has 24 Big Eight and five Missouri Valley titles.

400 Club

With OSU's win over West Virginia at the 2023 Big 12 Championship, Josh Holliday notched his 400th career win as the Cowboys' head coach, joining Gary Ward as the only two head coaches in program history to achieve that feat.

Season Openers

OSU is 6-5 in season openers under Josh Holliday. In 2023, the Cowboys opened the season with a 5-3 win over Missouri at the College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

Pokes vs. Ranked Foes

Under Josh Holliday, Oklahoma State owns a 91-84 record (.520) against ranked opponents. That breakdown includes a 35-34 mark at home, a 34-34 road record and a 22-16 showing in neutral site contests.

Close Calls

The Cowboys are 90-57 (.612) in one-run games with Josh Holliday at the helm.

New Faces

A total of 23 newcomers joined the OSU program for the 2024 season. The Cowboys brought in 15 players from the high school ranks, while adding six Division I transfers and a pair of JUCO products.

Cowboy Country

OSU's 2023 roster includes players from 15 different states and Canada.

That's Offensive

The Cowboys' lineup in 2023 produced some of the best offensive numbers in the program in years, among them a .301 team batting average and 108 home runs. It was OSU's highest batting average since 2010 and its most round trippers since 1999. The Pokes also posted a .536 slugging percentage, their best since the 1999 season.

The good news is that four regulars who owned a batting average of at least .330 last season return in 2024, led by Carson Benge (.345) and Nolan Schubart (.338).

The Cowboys also return players who combined for 83 of their 144 doubles (58 percent) in 2023, while both Nolan Schubart (.667) and Tyler Wulfert (.620) turned in slugging percentages over .600.

Other notables:

• Carson Benge posted a .468 on-base percentage as OSU's .468 OBP was its highest since 2008.

• Nolan Schubart's 74 RBIs were the most in a season by a Cowboy since 2007.

K Kounter

In the first 110 seasons of Cowboy Baseball, no OSU pitching staff recorded 600 strikeouts in a season, but the Pokes reached that mark in back-to-back seasons in 2022 and 2023.

In '22, the Cowboys shattered the program record for strikeouts in a season with 679, besting the previous mark by 91. The total ranked fifth nationally, and OSU was seventh in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.7.

Last season, the Cowboys led the Big 12 and rank ninth in the NCAA with 607 strikeouts. OSU's 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings was tops in the Big 12 and seventh nationally.

The eight pitchers returning to the staff in 2024 combined for 199 strikeouts a year ago. Janzen Keisel is OSU's returning strikeout leader; the right-hander had 40 punchouts in 25 innings as a sophomore.

Dynamic Duo

Cowboy sophomores Carson Benge and Nolan Schubart had breakout seasons in 2023 and have been recognized among the nation's best talents entering 2024.

Both Benge and Schubart are on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List, making up two of the 55 players on the list for baseball's top amateur player.

The duo also collected Preseason All-America honors as Schubart was named to the first team by the NCBWA and collected second-team honors from D1Baseball.com while Benge made a pair of teams as a utility player, garnering third-team accolades from Baseball America and Perfect Game.

Benge and Schubart were also voted to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team by the league's head coaches, with Schubart being a unanimous selection.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carson Benge

Janzen Keisel

Nolan Schubart

Tyler Wulfert

Oklahoma State University Athletics