Cowboy Baseball Set For Showdown In Cowtown

#11 Oklahoma State (22-8, 6-3) at TCU (18-11, 5-4)

Thurs., April 6 • 6 p.m. / Fri., April 7 • 8 p.m. / Sat., April 8 • 4 p.m.
Lupton Stadium (4,500) • Fort Worth, Texas

Video/TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Thurs. & Sat.)
                      (Chuck LaMendola & Connor Wanhanen)
                      ESPNU (Fri.) (Clay Matvick & Kyle Peterson)
Radio: 93.7 KSPI FM (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
               The Varsity Network – okla.st/GetVarsity
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • OSU is 22-8 overall and atop the Big 12 standings with a 6-3 conference mark. Up next, the Cowboys travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to take on TCU in a Thursday-Saturday league series.
     • The Cowboys are coming off a 42-22 season in 2022 in which they made their ninth consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. OSU finished tied for second in the Big 12 standings with a 15-9 conference mark, one game out of first place.
     • OSU was the No. 7 national seed in last year's NCAA Championship, the program's highest ever tourney seeding, and was an NCAA Regional host for the fourth time under Josh Holliday; the Pokes advanced to the NCAA Regional finals for the sixth time under Holliday.
     • Led by Nolan McLean and Roc Riggio, OSU returns six position starters and 13 letterwinners from '22.
     • The 2023 season is OSU's 11th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 384-207-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Region berth each year under his watch.

About TCU

     • TCU is 18-11 overall and tied for fourth in the Big 12 standings at 5-4.
     • Kirk Saarloos is in his second season as TCU's head coach and owns a 56-33 career record. He was named the 2022 Big 12 Coach of the Year after leading the Frogs to a Big 12 title in his first season.
     • OSU is 30-30 all time against TCU, including a 16-19 mark under Josh Holliday. Last season, the two teams split four games, with the Frogs winning twice in Stillwater to take the regular season series, and the Cowboys also winning a game at the Big 12 Baseball Championship.
     • TCU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

     Thursday: LHP Chase Hoover — 1-0, 3.05 ERA in six appearances (1 start); 14 K, 9 BB in 20.2 IP
     Friday: RHP Kole Klecker — 5-2, 3.41 ERA in seven appearances (5 starts); 27 K, 7 BB in 37.0 IP
     Saturday: RHP Cam Brown — 2-1, 3.48 ERA in eight appearances (7 starts); 36 K, 15 BB in 33.2 IP

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

     OSU was ranked as high as No. 8 in the preseason national polls, receiving that ranking from USA TODAY Sports. This week, the Cowboys are ranked No. 11 by Baseball America, 12th by Collegiate Baseball, 13th by USA TODAY Sports, 14th by Perfect Game, 15th by the NCBWA and 16th by D1Baseball.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 45 consecutive weeks dating back to the 2021 preseason polls. The Cowboys reached No. 2 twice in 2022, marking their highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday.
     From March 4, 2013 to April 3, 2017, a streak of 77 consecutive weeks, OSU was ranked in at least one national poll. During that time, the Cowboys spent 18 weeks in the Top 10, climbing as high as No. 3. They have finished in the top 10 in the final polls twice under Josh Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the week No. 20 in the official NCAA RPI; TCU is 38th.

All-American Golden Cowboys

     Juaron Watts-Brown and Nolan McLean are both consensus Preseason All-Americans.
     Watts-Brown, the Cowboys' sophomore right-handed pitcher, was a second-team pick by D1Baseball and Baseball America and a third-team choice by Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game and the NCBWA.
     A two-way standout, McLean was named a Preseason All-American as a utility player and the junior earned second-team status from D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball and third-team honors from Baseball America, Perfect Game and the NCBWA.
     Both McLean and Watts-Brown were also on the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List, while McLean and freshman Nolan Schubart are on the GSA Midseason Watch List.
     Joining the McLean/Watts-Brown duo as a Preseason All-American is sophomore second baseman Roc Riggio, who was a third-team selection by Baseball America and D1Baseball.

We Went Streaking

     OSU's recent 12-game winning streak (Feb. 26-March 14) is the second longest by a Big 12 team this season and is tied for the second longest of the Josh Holliday head coaching era.
     The Pokes' longest win streak under Holliday is 14, which came in 2020-21 (last five games of COVID shortened '20 season and first nine of '21), and OSU also turned in a 12-game winning streak in 2014.
     The program record for longest winning streak is 30 games, set by the 1986 Cowboys.

K Kounter

     The 2022 OSU pitching staff shattered the program record for strikeouts in a season with 679, besting the previous mark by 91.
     The Cowboys' 679 strikeouts ranked fifth nationally, and they ranked seventh in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.7.
     With an influx of new arms, this year's staff has continued to pile up Ks. The Cowboys lead the Big 12 and rank ninth in the NCAA with 318 strikeouts, and they have three pitchers — Juaron Watts-Brown, Ben Abram and Isaac Stebens — in the top 10 in the conference in punchouts.
     OSU's 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings this season is tops in the Big 12 and ranks 10th nationally.

Cowboys Who Rake

     OSU's offense is putting up some impressive numbers at the plate.
     • The Cowboys rank second in the Big 12 with a .310 team batting average, which is 33rd nationally.
     • Seven regulars in the OSU starting lineup are hitting at least .300. Nolan Schubart leads the way with a .389 average that ranks third in the Big 12.
     • OSU's 75 doubles rank fourth nationally, eight behind NCAA leader Virginia.
     • The Cowboys have smashed a Big 12-best 53 home runs, which ranks 16th nationally. Thirteen different players have homered, and four of those — Nolan Schubart, Roc Riggio, Nolan McLean and David Mendham — lead the team with eight round trippers apiece.
     • OSU's .550 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and is ninth nationally.
     • The Cowboys have posted five run-rule wins this season.

Heaps Of Praise

In the second game of the Texas series, Juaron Watts-Brown pitched a gem to earn a win and even the series. In a season-high eight innings, in which he struck out six consecutive batters over the first two frames and ended the night by retiring the last six batters he faced in a 128-pitch effort, Watts-Brown only allowed one run and tallied 12 strikeouts as OSU snapped the Horns' 16-game winning streak.
Watts-Brown's performance saw him recognized with numerous national awards including:
Perfect Game/Rawlings Pitcher of the Week, NCBWA Pitcher of the Week, D1Baseball Pitcher of the Week and Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week.

#11 Oklahoma State (22-8, 6-3) at TCU (18-11, 5-4)

Thurs., April 6 • 6 p.m. / Fri., April 7 • 8 p.m. / Sat., April 8 • 4 p.m.
Lupton Stadium (4,500) • Fort Worth, Texas

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ben Abram

Nolan McLean

David Mendham

Roc Riggio

Nolan Schubart

Isaac Stebens

Juaron Watts-Brown

Oklahoma State University Athletics