Cowboy Baseball Set For Big 12 Home Opener

#18 TCU (16-5, 1-5) at Oklahoma State (13-8, 1-2)

Fri., March 22 • 6 p.m. / Sat., March 23 • 6 p.m. / Sun., March 24 • 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
                      (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: Pete 94.3 FM/780 AM (Fri. & Sat.)
               KSPI 93.7 FM (Sun.) (Karsten Melton & 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 13-8 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 play and welcome TCU to Stillwater for their conference home opening series at O'Brate Stadium beginning Friday night.
     • OSU finished 41-20 in 2023 and earned its 10th consecutive NCAA Regional bid. It was 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 416-227-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About TCU

     • TCU is 16-5 overall and 1-5 in Big 12 play with series losses at Kansas and against Oklahoma at home.
     • Kirk Saarloos is in his second season as TCU's head coach and owns a 44-24 career record.
     • OSU is 31-33 all time against TCU, including a 17-22 mark under Josh Holliday. Last season, the Cowboys went 1-3 against the Frogs.
     • TCU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

     Friday: LHP Payton Tolle — 1-1, 5.24 ERA in five starts; 38 K, 11 BB in 22.1 IP
     Saturday: RHP Kole Klecker — 0-1, 5.48 ERA in five starts; 19 K, 5 BB in 23.0 IP
     Sunday: TBA

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 46 in the official NCAA RPI; TCU is 35th.

Pokes vs. Ranked Foes

Under Josh Holliday, Oklahoma State owns a 92-86 record (.517) against ranked opponents. That breakdown includes a 35-34 mark at home, a 34-35 road record and a 23-17 showing in neutral site contests.
The Cowboys are 1-2 against ranked teams this season.

Clutch

OSU is hitting .370 with runners in scoring position this season. Ian Daugherty (5-for-7), Jaxson Crull (7-for-13), Aidan Meola (10-for-18), Avery Ortiz (6-for-13) and Carson Benge (12-for-26) are among the top Cowboy hitters with RISP.

Clutch 2

Of the Cowboys' 146 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 4.09 team ERA; six 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 210 strikeouts through 21 games, averaging 10.2 per nine innings. All 16 pitchers who have taken the mound have at least one punchout, and nine Pokes have double digits in strikeouts, led by Brian Holiday's 37.
     The Pokes have reached double digits in strikeouts in 10 games, with a season-high 18 vs. CMU.

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 .178 against Holiday, which ranks second in the Big 12, and he is fourth in the league in ERA at 1.83, having allowed only seven earned runs in a conference-high 34.1 innings pitched. He is also fifth with 37 strikeouts.
     Holiday is coming off a career-high 11 strikeout effort in eight innings of work against UCF.
    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 21 RBIs and eight doubles while hitting .361, and he has tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings with eight strikeouts in six 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 17 games he's played in while collecting hits in 15 of those, including recording eight multi-hit efforts, and he owns a team-high .391 batting average that ranks seventh in the Big 12. He leads the Cowboys with a .594 slugging percentage ranks second with 18 RBIs.
     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 played second base and first base in 2024.
     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.

#18 TCU (16-5, 1-5) at Oklahoma State (13-8, 1-2)

Fri., March 22 • 6 p.m. / Sat., March 23 • 6 p.m. / Sun., March 24 • 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

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Players Mentioned

Carson Benge

Jaxson Crull

Ian Daugherty

Brian Holiday

Aidan Meola

Avery Ortiz

Oklahoma State University Athletics