Texas Tech (30-20, 12-15) at #19 Oklahoma State (32-16, 15-9)
Fri., May 10 • 6 p.m. / Sat., May 11 • 6 p.m. / Sun., May 12 • 2 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 32-16 overall and tied for second in the Big 12 standings at 15-9 in conference play. Up next, OSU hosts Texas Tech in its final home series of the season 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 435-235-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Regional berth each year under his watch.
About Texas Tech
• Texas Tech is 30-20 and 10th in the Big 12 standings at 12-15.
• Tim Tadlock is in his 11th season as the Red Raiders' head coach and owns a 409-214 career record.
• OSU is 47-48 all time against Texas Tech, including a 14-23 mark under Josh Holliday. Last season, the Red Raiders won two of the three games in Lubbock to take the series, but the Cowboys beat TTU twice in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship to advance to the final.
• TTU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
Friday: LHP Ryan Free — 5-1, 4.79 ERA in 14 appearances (six starts); 30 K, 16 BB in 41.1 IP
Saturday: RHP Kyle Robinson — 4-6, 5.09 ERA in 12 starts; 61 K, 30 BB in 63.2 IP
Sunday: TBA
And We're Back
OSU re-entered the national rankings on April 8 for the first time since the preseason and remained in the polls for a fourth-straight week. The Cowboys are as high as No. 19 in the D1Baseball.com poll and are ranked 20th by USA Today and 21st by Baseball America, Perfect Game and the NCBWA.
The Pokes had a streak of being nationally ranked end after 55 consecutive weeks end on Feb. 19; they had appeared in the polls during a stretch dating back to the 2021 preseason rankings.
Under Josh Holliday, the Cowboys have peaked at No. 2 in the polls, reaching that mark twice in 2022.
OSU has finished in the top 10 in the final polls twice under Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.
RPI Talk
Oklahoma State entered the weekend No. 21 in the official NCAA RPI; Texas Tech is 49th.
Elite Company
OSU is one of only four teams who have finished in the top 25 of the NCAA RPI in each of the last four seasons and who are currently in the top 25 of the RPI. Also in the group are Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee.
Clutch
OSU is hitting .314 with runners in scoring position this season. Jaxson Crull (8-for-23), Aidan Meola (18-for-47), Ian Daugherty (10-for-26), Kollin Ritchie (12-for-31), Zach Ehrhard (17-for-48), Colin Brueggemann (17-for-49) and Tyler Wulfert (10-for-29) are among the top Cowboy hitters with RISP.
Power Surge
In a five-game stretch that included midweek wins over Oral Roberts and Wichita State and a series sweep of BYU — OSU mashed 25 home runs, tallied 71 runs and racked up 146 total bases, while its pitching staff piled up 71 strikeouts with single-game totals of 13, 16, 16, 13 and 13.
Strong Armed
OSU is second in the Big 12 and 23rd nationally with a 4.38 team ERA; six Cowboys own an ERA of 3.98 or under, with Brian Holiday (3.70) and Sam Garcia (3.98) ranking in the top 10 in the conference.
The Cowboys' staff has tossed three shutouts and is fifth nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.26) and 11th in WHIP (1.30).
Rob Walton's Punchout
The Cowboys' pitching staff under Rob Walton is again putting up big strikeout numbers in 2024.
OSU has recorded 528 strikeouts in 427.1 innings through 48 games; the Cowboys' rank fourth in the NCAA in strikeouts and are eighth nationally with 11.1 Ks per nine innings. Brian Holiday (87) and Sam Garcia (85) rank second and third in the Big 12 in strikeouts and are in the top 25 nationally.
The Pokes have reached double digits in strikeouts in 29 games and 22 of the last 32 outings.
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 is 4-3 and sixth in the Big 12 with a 3.70 ERA, and opponents are hitting just .206 against Holiday, which ranks fourth in the league. He has a conference-high 80 1/3 innings pitched and has lasted at least six innings in 11 of his 12 starts.
He ranks 13th nationally in WHIP (0.95) and 21st in strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Holiday is also second in the Big 12 with 87 strikeouts. He turned in 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.
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 12 outings, the southpaw is 4-3 with a 3.98 ERA, and he ranks third in the Big 12 with 85 strikeouts; he is seventh nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 7.08. He has struck out six or more batters in nine of his starts, including a season-high 11 in a win at West Virginia.
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.
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.
After missing 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 is hitting .332 and leads OSU in eight offensive categories, including doubles (20), RBIs (52), walks (43) and total bases (126). In 16 appearances, 14 of those in relief, he has posted a 2.45 ERA and is 2-1 with three saves and 30 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings.
Random Fact: Carson's older brother, Garrett, was a two-time All-Big 12 infielder for OSU in 2016-17; he was the starting third baseman on the Cowboys' 2016 College World Series team.
Hit The Ground Hitting
In his first collegiate season, Nolan Schubart 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 DBU on Feb. 27; since his return to the lineup vs. Missouri State, he is 38-for-100 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs in 28 games.
Random Fact: Schubart originally committed to 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 .349.
He's continued his hot hitting, owning a .324 batting average and leading the Cowboys with 55 runs, and he ranks second on OSU in hits (61), doubles (16) and walks (37). His 10 homers are more than his output from his first two seasons combined as he hit three as both a freshman and sophomore.
Ehrhard is hitting a conference-best .414 in Big 12 play with seven homers, 10 doubles and 24 RBIs.
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.
Hit Man
Injuries limited Aidan Meola's playing time over his first two collegiate seasons, and he has battled them again in 2024. But the junior has played in a career-high 34 games this season and established himself as one of OSU's top hitters.
Meola has reached base safely in 29 games, collecting hits in 25 of those, and posted 14 multi-hit efforts. He owns a .323 batting average to go along with career highs in homers (7) and RBIs (36).
He's also showcased a knack for the clutch hit as he's 18-for-54 (.333) with runners in scoring position.
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.
Powering His Way Into The Record Books
In a program known for slugging prowess, Nolan Schubart put his name at the top of a pair of lists with a historic performance against Wichita State on April 30.
Schubart set OSU's single-game home run record and tied the Big 12 mark with four bombs against the Shockers, and he also set Big 12 and program records with 18 total bases. He was 5-for-5 with four homers, a double and seven RBIs in the contest.
After a two-RBI double in his first at-bat in the first inning, Schubart smashed a solo homer later in the opening frame, delivered another solo shot in the third, then a two-run blast in the fifth. He set the record by going deep in the sixth with another solo bomb.
Prior to Schubart’s record-setting effort, OSU had 18 three-homer games in program history, with 14 different Cowboys achieving that feat. Schubart, who homered three times in a game last season against East Tennessee State, also became the fourth Poke to hit three or more homers in a game multiple times, joining Roy York, Adam Carr and Trevor Boone.
Schubart became only the second Big 12 player to homer four times in a game, joining Missouri's Jacob Priday (2008).
Man On Fire
There are not many hotter hitters than Nolan Schubart, who is putting up video game numbers of late.
Over OSU's last eight games, Schubart is 18-for-32 (.563) with eight home runs, four doubles and 20 RBIs. He's racked up 46 total bases and posted a 2.088 OPS.
Century Mark
With 90 home runs on the season, a total that ranks 15th nationally this season, the Cowboys are on the brink of becoming the 12th team in program history to reach 100 homers in a season.
OSU smacked 103 homers last season, its first time in triple digits since 1999. If the Cowboys reach the century mark this season, it would mark the fourth time in program history they have hit 100 in consecutive seasons.
The Pokes hit 100-plus homers each year from 1985-88, did it again in 1991-92 and then went three-straight years achieving the feat from 1995-97.
In 1988, OSU set a program record with 154 round trippers.
