Cowboy Baseball Home To Take On ORU

Oral Roberts (10-18) at Oklahoma State (18-10)

Tues., April 2 • 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 18-10 overall and fifth in the Big 12 standings at 5-4 in conference play. OSU hosts Oral Roberts on Tuesday night before the Bedlam Series with Oklahoma this weekend at O'Brate Stadium.
     • 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 421-229-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.

About Oral Roberts

     • Oral Roberts is 10-18 this season, including a 2-7 mark on the road.
     • Ryan Folmar is in his 12th season as ORU's head coach and owns a 381-242 career record. Folmar was a four-year letterwinner at Oklahoma State as a catcher from 1994-97.
     • OSU is 37-42 all time against ORU, including a 5-14 mark under Josh Holliday. The Golden Eagles have won the last four meetings, with the Cowboys' last win coming at ORU on March 23, 2022.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the week No. 25 in the official NCAA RPI; Oral Roberts is 295th.

Clutch

OSU is hitting .332 with runners in scoring position this season. Ian Daugherty (5-for-10), Jaxson Crull (8-for-15), Aidan Meola (11-for-25), Avery Ortiz (7-for-19), Kollin Ritchie (8-for-22) and Colin Brueggemann (10-for-29) are among the top Cowboy hitters with RISP.

Clutch 2

Of the Cowboys' 178 RBIs this season, 74 of those have come with two outs. Carson Benge leads OSU with 13 two-out RBIs, while Colin Brueggeman has 11.

Close Calls

OSU is 93-61 (.604) in one-run games with Josh Holliday at the helm, including a 3-4 mark this season.

Strong Armed

OSU ranks second in the Big 12 and seventh nationally with a 3.61 team ERA; 10 Cowboys own an ERA of 3.38 or under, with Brian Holiday ranking second in the conference and 15th nationally with a 1.75 ERA.
The Cowboys' staff ranks eighth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.07) and 10th in WHIP (1.23).

Shoving

     OSU is 6-2 over its last eight games, including series wins over TCU and West Virginia, and a big reason why is its pitching.
     During that stretch, the Cowboys have allowed only 18 earned runs over 73.0 innings for an ERA of 2.22, while also racking up 95 strikeouts, including six games in which they struck out 12 or more.
     The Pokes' four opponents over the eight-game span — Missouri State, TCU, Wichita State and West Virginia — are hitting just .178.

Rob Walton's Punchout

     The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
     OSU has recorded 292 strikeouts in 249 innings through 28 games; the Cowboys' rank 15th in the NCAA in strikeouts and 20th nationally with 10.6 Ks per nine innings. Brian Holiday (56) and Sam Garcia (52) have each eclipsed 50 strikeouts and rank second and fourth in the Big 12 in strikeouts.
     The Pokes have reached double digits in strikeouts in 15 games, including eight of the last 12 outings.

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 23 RBIs and 10 doubles while hitting .300, and he has posted a pair of saves to go along with 12 strikeouts in eight innings of work over eight mound appearances.
     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 9-for-28 with two homers and five RBIs.
     Random Fact: Schubart originally committed to play at Michigan before a coaching change there led to him signing with the Cowboys.

March On

     Zach Ehrhard went on a tear at the plate in the month of March.
     In 20 games, the Cowboy outfielder hit .405 (32-for-79) with 10 doubles, and he posted 10 multi-hit performances. In doing so, he raised his batting average from .200 to a team-high .349.
     Ehrhard is hitting a conference-best .556 in Big 12 play, and he went 10-for-13 with a double, homer and five runs during last weekend's series at West Virginia.
     Random Fact: At Wharton High School, Ehrhard was coached by MLB Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, who was a volunteer coach for the baseball team.

Oral Roberts (10-18) at Oklahoma State (18-10)

Tues., April 2 • 6 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Carson Benge

Colin Brueggemann

Jaxson Crull

Ian Daugherty

Zach Ehrhard

Sam Garcia

Brian Holiday

Aidan Meola

Avery Ortiz

Kollin Ritchie

Nolan Schubart

Oklahoma State University Athletics