Cowboys Open Homestand With Midweek Contest Against Missouri State

Missouri State (9-9) at Oklahoma State (12-8)

Tues., March 19 • 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
(Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
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 12-8 and open a four-game homestand Tuesday night against Missouri State before welcoming TCU to Stillwater for a weekend series at O'Brate Stadium.
     • 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 415-227-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About Missouri State

     • Missouri State is 9-9 and has lost four in a row entering Tuesday's contest.
     • Keith Guttin is in his 42nd and final season as the Bears' head coach and owns a career record of 1,382-904. He has been part of the MSU program as a player and coach for 47 of its 60 years.
     • OSU is 21-9 all time against Missouri State, including a 15-3 mark under Josh Holliday. The Cowboys have won the last four meetings, including last season in Springfield.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 49 in the official NCAA RPI; Missouri State is 42nd.

Clutch

OSU is hitting .369 with runners in scoring position this season. Ian Daugherty (4-for-6), Jaxson Crull (7-for-13), Aidan Meola (10-for-18), Avery Ortiz (6-for-13) and Carson Benge (11-for-24) are among the top Cowboy hitters with RISP.

Clutch 2

Of the Cowboys' 134 RBIs this season, 62 of those have come with two outs. Carson Benge leads OSU with 13 two-out RBIs.

Strong Armed

OSU ranks second in the Big 12 with a 4.19 team ERA; five Cowboys own an ERA under 3.00. Brian Holiday ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.83 ERA.

Rob Walton's Punchout

     The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
     OSU has recorded 197 strikeouts through 20 games, averaging 10.1 per nine innings. All 15 pitchers who have taken the mound have at least one punchout, and eight Pokes have double digits in strikeouts, led by Brian Holiday's 37.
     In the three-game series sweep of Central Michigan, nine OSU hurlers combined for 41 strikeouts.

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 eight doubles while hitting .363, and he has tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings with six strikeouts in five 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 16 games he's played in while collecting hits in 14 of those, including recording seven multi-hit efforts, and he owns a team-high .367 batting average. He ranks third on the Cowboys with 17 RBIs and fourth with four doubles.
     He's also showcased a knack for the clutch hit as he's 10-for-18 (.556) with runners in scoring position and has produced eight 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 has started 16 games and owns a .333 batting average and .474 slugging percentage. 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 .346 in 17 games and is tied for second on the team with three homers while also ranking second with a .558 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!).