Cowboy Baseball Opens Big 12 Play At UCF

Oklahoma State (11-6, 0-0) at UCF (10-4, 0-3)

Fri., March 15 • 5 p.m. / Sat., March 16 • 5 p.m. / Sun., March 17 • 12 p.m. (All Times CDT)
John Euliano Park (3,841) • Orlando, Fla.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
(Austin Lyon & Stephan Branca)
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
The Varsity Network - okla.st/GetVarsity
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
X In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • The Cowboys are 11-6 and open Big 12 Conference play this weekend at UCF.
     • 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 413-225-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About UCF

     • UCF is 10-4 on the season, which includes a 7-1 mark on its home field
     • Rich Wallace is in his first season as head coach at his alma mater.
     • OSU is 1-3 all time against UCF. The teams last met in the 2004 NCAA Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., with the Knights beating the Pokes twice in that tourney.
     • The Knights own a .301 team batting average, led by Matt Prevesk at .368, while their pitching staff sports a 5.16 ERA.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 63 in the official NCAA RPI; UCF is 5th.

Clutch

Of the Cowboys' 115 RBIs this season, 49 of those have come with two outs. Carson Benge leads OSU with 13 two-out RBIs.

Close Calls

OSU is 92-59 (.609) in one-run games with Josh Holliday at the helm, including a 2-2 mark this season.

We've Got A Streaker

Carson Benge has reached base safely in all 17 games this season and in 26 consecutive games dating back to the final nine of last season.

Strong Armed

OSU ranks third in the Big 12 with a 3.77 team ERA; 10 Cowboys own an ERA of 3.66 or lower. Three Cowboys rank in the top 10 in the league in ERA - Gabe Davis (4th at 1.06), Brian Holiday (6th at 2.05) and Janzen Keisel (9th at 2.55).

Rob Walton's Punchout

     The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
     OSU has recorded 169 strikeouts through 16 games, averaging 10.1 per nine innings. All 15 pitchers who have taken the mound have at least one punchout, and seven Pokes have double digits in strikeouts, led by Sam Garcia's 27 and Brian Holiday's 26.
     In the three-game series sweep of Central Michigan, nine OSU hurlers combined for 41 strikeouts.

Swipe Right

OSU had seven stolen bases in the second game of the Central Michigan series, marking the most steals in a game for the Cowboys since they had eight against Incarnate Word on March 1, 2016.
Lane Forsythe swiped three bags in the contest, the most steals by a Cowboy in a game since Garrett McCain had four in that game against Incarnate Word in 2016.

Happy Holiday

     After two years at the junior college level, Brian Holiday has adjusted well to life in Division I baseball.
     OSU's Saturday starter, the righty has been dominant. Opponents are hitting just .174 against Holiday, which ranks third in the Big 12, and he is sixth in the league in ERA at 2.05, having allowed only six runs in a conference-high 26.1 innings pitched.
     Holiday earned his first win against CMU with career highs in innings (8.0) and strikeouts (9).
    Random Fact: Holiday was named the 2023 NJCAA JUCO World Series Most Outstanding Pitcher after helping lead Central Florida to the NJCAA national championship as a sophomore.

Two-Way Talent

     As a redshirt freshman in 2023, Carson Benge earned Freshman All-America honors, was a semifinalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award and was an All-Big 12 First Team selection as a utility player while earning second-team honors as an outfielder.
     After redshirting in 2022 following Tommy John surgery, Benge posted a team-high .345 batting average to go along with seven home runs, 17 doubles and 43 RBIs. Spending most of his time in right field, he also recorded a .468 on-base percentage and drew 42 walks as opposed to striking out just 32 times in nearly 200 at-bats. On the mound, he made 10 starts and was 2-2 with 35 strikeouts in 35.0 innings.
     This season, Benge leads OSU with 19 RBIs and seven doubles while hitting .368, and he has tossed 3 1/3 shutout innings in four relief appearances on the mound.
     Random Fact: Carson's older brother, Garrett, was a two-time All-Big 12 infielder for OSU in 2016-17.

Swinging A Hot Bat

     Injuries limited Aidan Meola's playing time over his first two collegiate seasons, but the junior has been a constant in the lineup and the Cowboys' most consistent hitter in 2024.
     After starting OSU's first seven games, Meola missed four contests with an injury suffered against Oregon State before returning during the midweek series against Utah Tech.
     Meola has reached base safely in all 13 games he's played in while collecting hits in 12 of those, including recording six multi-hit efforts, and he owns a .388 batting average to rank 10th in the Big 12. He ranks third on the Cowboys with 11 RBIs and fourth with four doubles.
     He's also showcased a knack for the clutch hit as he's 8-for-14 with runners in scoring position and has produced four two-out RBIs. He drove in the tying run with a double in the bottom of the ninth inning against No. 2 Arkansas to send the game into extra innings in a contest OSU eventually won in 14.
     Primarily a third baseman his first two seasons, Meola has made the move to second base this season.
     Random Fact: Meola's dad, Tony, played goalie for the U.S. Men's National Team in the 1990, 1994 and 2002 World Cups, and he was inducted into the United States Soccer Hall of Fame in 2012.

Frosh Showing Out

     Kollin Ritchie and Avery Ortiz have been constants in the OSU lineup as true freshmen and the homegrown talents have been productive additions to the Cowboys' offense.
     Ritchie owns a .354 batting average and .521 slugging percentage, both of which rank third on the Pokes. In the series sweep of Central Michigan, he was 9-for-13 with four RBIs, including a 4-for-6, three-RBI effort in the finale that included his first-career homer.
     Ortiz, a Tulsa native, is hitting .348 in 14 games and is tied for second on the team lead with three homers while also ranking second with a .587 slugging percentage.
    Random Fact: Ritchie graduated from Atoka High School, whose mascot is the Wampus Cats. What exactly is a Wampus Cat? Descriptions vary - just go ahead and Google it (trust us!).

Change Of Scenery

     A move to Stillwater is paying off for Sam Garcia.
     After graduating from High Point in three years, Garcia transferred to OSU and has established himself as the Cowboys' Friday night starter. In four outings, the southpaw is 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA, and he leads the staff and ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 27 strikeouts. He opened the season with four punchouts and has struck out six, eight and nine in each of his subsequent appearances.
     Garcia struggled to a 1-8 record and 7.57 ERA in 18 outings last season at HPU, but as a sophomore in 2022 he won five games and had a 1.64 ERA in 16 appearances to earn All-Big South First Team honors.
     Random Fact: Garcia graduated from E.A. Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is also the alma mater of NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Sophomore Surge

     Gabe Davis is showcasing the skills that have him projected as one of the top college arms for the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.
     In six relief appearances this season, Davis is 1-0 with a pair of saves and a 1.06 ERA. Opponents are hitting just .136 against him, tops in the Big 12, and he has 19 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched while ranking in the top 10 nationally in WHIP at 0.71.
     Random Fact: Davis was coached at Choctaw High School by Shane Hawk, who pitched for the Cowboys from 2001-03 and was a fourth-round pick of the New York Mets in the 2001 MLB Draft.

Oklahoma State (11-6, 0-0) at UCF (10-4, 0-3)

Fri., March 15 • 5 p.m. / Sat., March 16 • 5 p.m. / Sun., March 17 • 12 p.m. (All Times CDT)
John Euliano Park (3,841) • Orlando, Fla.

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Players Mentioned

Carson Benge

Gabe Davis

Lane Forsythe

Sam Garcia

Brian Holiday

Janzen Keisel

Aidan Meola

Avery Ortiz

Kollin Ritchie

Oklahoma State University Athletics