Cowboy Baseball Continues Homestand With Two-Game Midweek Series

Utah Tech (1-11) at Oklahoma State (7-4)

Tues., March 5 • 4 p.m. / Wed., March 6 • 4 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: ESPN+ (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: Pete 94.3 FM/780 AM (Tues.)
               KSPI 93.7 FM (Wed.)
               The Varsity Network - okla.st/GetVarsity
               (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
X In-Game Scoreboard/Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • The Cowboys are 7-4 after a series sweep of Central Michigan last weekend. OSU continues its eight-game homestand at O'Brate Stadium with a pair of midweek contests against Utah Tech before a weekend set against Mercer.
     • 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 410-223-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About Utah Tech

     • Utah Tech is 1-11 on the season, their lone win coming against Washington State.
     • Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 12th season as UTU's head coach and owns a 314-243-1 record.
     • OSU is 4-0 all time against Utah Tech after sweeping a four-game series with the Trailblazers last season in Stillwater.
     • The Trailblazers' starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

Tuesday: LHP Evan Vasiliou — 0-2, 8.44 ERA in three appearances (two starts); 9 K, 5 BB in 10.2 IP
Wednesday: TBA

Rob Walton's Punchout

     The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
     OSU has recorded 113 strikeouts through 11 games, averaging 10.3 per nine innings. All 14 pitchers who have taken the mound have at least one punchout, and four Pokes have double digits in strikeouts, led by Brian Holiday's 19.
     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 at the Division I level.
     OSU's Saturday starter in the first three weeks, the righty has been dominant. Opponents are hitting just .106 against Holiday, which ranks second in the Big 12, as has not allowed more than three hits in a game. He also ranks third in ERA at 0.90, having allowed only two runs in a conference-high 20 innings pitched.
     Holiday is coming off an outing against Central Michigan in which he posted 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.

Frosh On Fire

     Kollin Ritchie enters the week as OSU's hottest hitter.
     The Cowboys' freshman outfielder/DH has hit safely in each of the last four games, going 10-for-15 (.667) during that span with a triple, home run and five RBIs.
     In the series sweep of Central Michigan, Ritchie was 9-for-13 with four RBIs, including a 4-for-6, three-RBI effort in the finale that included his first-career homer.
     Ritchie's hot hitting has seen his batting average rise nearly 300 points from .071 to .370.
    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!).

Oklahoma State University Athletics