Cowboy Baseball Returns To Big 12 Play At West Virginia

Friday, March 29

Morgantown, WV

5:30 PM (CST)

Oklahoma State University

West Virginia

Image Taken at the Oklahoma State Cowboys vs Missouri State Bears Baseball Game, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, O'Brate Stadium, Stillwater, OK. Bruce Waterfield/OSU Athletics

Nolan Schubart

Photo by: Oklahoma State University

March 27, 2024 | Cowboy Baseball

Game Notes 13 West Virginia

Oklahoma State (16-9, 3-3) at West Virginia (15-10, 4-2)

Fri., March 29 • 5:30 p.m. / Sat., March 30 • 3 p.m. / Sun., March 31 • 12 p.m. (All Times CDT)
Kendrick Family Ballpark (3,500) • Morgantown, W.Va.

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
(Lanny Frattare & Tyler Barnette)
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 16-9 overall and tied for fifth in the Big 12 standings at 3-3 in conference play. Up next, OSU travels to West Virginia for a weekend series beginning Friday.
     • 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.
     • 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.
     • The 2024 season is OSU's 12th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 419-228-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About West Virginia

     • West Virginia is 15-10 overall and tied for third in the Big 12 standings at 4-2.
     • Randy Mazey is in his 12th and final season as the Mountaineers' head coach. He also has head coaching stints at Charleston Southern and East Carolina and owns a career record of 537-420-2 in 18 seasons.
     • OSU is 24-15 all time against WVU, including a 21-15 mark under Josh Holliday. Last season, the two teams split four games, with the Mountaineers winning 2-of-3 in the regular season series in Stillwater and the Cowboys winning a matchup at the Big 12 Championship.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 24 in the official NCAA RPI; West Virginia is 63rd.

Clutch

OSU is hitting .359 with runners in scoring position this season. Ian Daugherty (5-for-8), Jaxson Crull (7-for-13), Aidan Meola (11-for-25), Avery Ortiz (7-for-15) and Carson Benge (12-for-31) are among the top Cowboy hitters with RISP.

Clutch 2

Of the Cowboys' 160 RBIs this season, 66 of those have come with two outs. Carson Benge leads OSU with 13 two-out RBIs.

Close Calls

OSU is 92-61 (.601) in one-run games with Josh Holliday at the helm, including a 2-4 mark this season.

Strong Armed

OSU ranks second in the Big 12 and ninth nationally with a 3.58 team ERA; 10 Cowboys own an ERA of 3.38 or under, with Brian Holiday ranking fourth in the conference with a 1.87 ERA.
The Cowboys' staff ranks ninth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.05) and 11th in WHIP (1.24).

Shoving

     OSU is 4-1 over its last five games, and a big reason why is its pitching.
     During that stretch, the Cowboys have allowed only six earned runs over 45 innings for an ERA of 1.20, while racking up 65 strikeouts; the strikeout totals by game have been 13, 12, 14, 13 and 13.
     The Pokes' three opponents over the five-game span — Missouri State, TCU and Wichita State — are hitting just .146.

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 ranked 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.

Rob Walton's Punchout

     The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
     OSU has recorded 262 strikeouts in 221 innings through 25 games; the Cowboys' rank 15th in the NCAA in strikeouts and 19th nationally with 10.7 Ks per nine innings. All 18 pitchers who have taken the mound have at least one punchout, and 10 Pokes have double digits in strikeouts, led by Brian Holiday's 51.
     The Pokes have reached double digits in strikeouts in 14 games, including each of the last five and seven of the last nine.

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 .168 against Holiday, which ranks second in the Big 12, and he is fourth in the league in ERA at 1.87, having allowed only nine earned runs in a conference-high 43 1/3 innings pitched.
     Holiday ranks second in the Big 12 and 10th in the NCAA with 51 strikeouts. He is coming off a complete game, 14-strikeout performance in a win over No. 18 TCU in which he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. That came on the heels of an 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 nine doubles while hitting .323, and he has tossed 6 1/3 innings with 10 strikeouts in seven 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.

Hit The Ground Hitting

     In his first collegiate season, Nolan Schubart proved to be a powerful addition to the OSU lineup, and he earned All-America and Freshman All-America honors and was also named the Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Year and an All-Big 12 First Team performer.
     A starter in 59 games, Schubart hit .338 with 17 home runs, 20 doubles and 74 RBIs and turned in a .667 slugging percentage. His 74 RBIs was the most by a Cowboy since 2007.
     Among all NCAA Division I freshmen in 2023, Schubart ranked second in RBIs, third in doubles, sixth in total bases (144), walks (43) and slugging percentage and seventh in home runs.
     Schubart missed 12 games this season after suffering an injury against Dallas Baptist; since his return to the lineup vs. Missouri State, he is 6-for-14 with three RBIs.
     Random Fact: Schubart originally committed to play at Michigan before a coaching change there led to him signing with the Cowboys.

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 18 games of the 21 games he's played in while collecting hits in 16 of those, including recording nine multi-hit efforts. He owns a team-high .355 batting average and is tied for the team lead with 21 RBIs while ranking second with a .594 slugging percentage.
     He's also showcased a knack for the clutch hit as he's 11-for-25 (.440) with runners in scoring position and has produced nine 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.

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 21 games and owns a .303 batting average, and he ranks second on the Cowboys with four home runs. 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 .317 in 20 games and has smacked three homers while also posting a .492 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 six outings, the southpaw is 2-3 with a 3.52 ERA, and he ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 41 strikeouts. He has struck out six or more batters in four of his starts.
     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.