Dallas Baptist (9-6) at #11 Oklahoma State (9-6)
Wed., March 16 • 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 & stillwaterradio.net (Robert Allen & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
• OSU is 9-6 on the season, and the seventh-ranked Cowboys open a stretch of five games in five days at O'Brate Stadium starting with a midweek test Wednesday against Dallas Baptist. The Pokes will then host Seton Hall for a four-game series Thursday-Sunday.
• The Cowboys are coming off a 36-19-1 season in 2021 in which they earned an eighth consecutive NCAA Regional berth. OSU finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference standings at 12-12.
• OSU returns 13 letterwinners from a year ago, including four position starters and nine pitchers. Highlighting the list are Preseason All-Americans Justin Campbell, Victor Mederos and Nolan McLean, as well as Jake Thompson, a Preseason All-Big 12 pick along with Campbell and McLean.
• The 2022 season is OSU’s 10th under head coach Josh Holliday, who is 329-183-2 at his alma mater.
About Dallas Baptist
• DBU is 9-6 on the season. The Patriots are hitting .265 while their pitching staff sports a 3.91 ERA.
• Dan Heefner is in his 15th season as the Patriots' head coach and owns a 535-277 career record.
Cowboys vs. Patriots
OSU is 13-6 all time against DBU, including a 6-2 mark under Josh Holliday. The two teams last met in 2019, with each team winning a midweek game on their home field.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
After being ranked as high as No. 7 in the preseason and rising to No. 3 on Feb. 21 to match its highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday, OSU checks in as high as No. 7 in this week's Perfect Game poll. The Cowboys are also ranked 11th by Baseball America and D1Baseball; they are 15th in the USA Today coaches poll, 18th in the NCBWA rankings and were tabbed 26th by Collegiate Baseball.
From March 4, 2013 to April 3, 2017, OSU was ranked in at least one national poll, a streak of 77 consecutive weeks. During that time, the Cowboys spent 18 weeks in the Top 10 and were ranked as high as No. 3 (by the NCBWA in 2014). They have finished in the top 10 in the final national polls twice under Josh Holliday — 10th in 2014 and fourth in 2016.
300 Club
Josh Holliday recorded his 300th career win as a head coach when he led his alma mater to a 5-4 win over Bedlam-rival Oklahoma on March 30 in Stillwater.
With 329 wins, Holliday is tied for second on OSU's all-time wins list, and he is one of four coaches to reach the 300-win milestone with the Cowboys, joining Gary Ward (953), Frank Anderson (329) and Toby Greene (318).
Everybody's Golden All-American
Justin Campbell is a consensus Preseason First-Team All-American as he earned that distinction from D1Baseball, Perfect Game and the NCBWA.
The Cowboy right-hander is also one of 55 players on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List.
All-American Cowboys
Joining Justin Campbell on the list of OSU Preseason All-Americans are Victor Mederos and Nolan McLean. Mederos was a Preseason All-America Second Team selection by Baseball America, while McLean earned third-team honors from D1Baseball.
A Star Is Born
Justin Campbell blossomed into an All-American in 2021, building an impressive resume by dominating on the mound and also being a threat with a bat in his hands.
In 14 appearances (13 starts), the righty posted a 7-2 record and 2.57 ERA, and he recorded 102 strikeouts in 84 innings, marking the 18th time an OSU pitcher has recorded 100 strikeouts in a season. He became the 15th different Cowboy hurler to achieve the feat and the first since Thomas Hatch (112) and Trey Cobb (100) in 2016.
Campbell earned All-American status from Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game/Rawlings and Baseball America, and he was named All-Big 12 First Team as both a pitcher and utility player.
Last season, Campbell also played in 30 games as a DH and pinch hitter and hit .269 with a home run, five doubles and 10 RBIs, and he was one of five finalists for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award.
Campbell became the second player in OSU history to earn All-Big 12 honors at two different positions in the same season, joining Jordy Mercer on that list. He is the only Cowboy to earn first-team accolades at two positions as Mercer was named to the first team as a utility player and made the second team as a shortstop in 2008.
Jake Rakes
Jake Thompson has established himself as one of the Big 12's top hitters, sporting a .379 batting average that ranks seventh in the conference. He is also sixth in the league with 22 hits and a .486 on-base percentage.
Thompson, who Josh Holliday calls one of the best two-strike hitters he's ever coached, has reached base safely in 31 of OSU's last 32 games, including a streak of 25 consecutive games during that stretch, and he leads the Cowboys with six multi-hit games.
A sixth-year graduate student who has found a home at his fourth college stop, Thompson is OSU's leading returning hitter after posting a .342 batting average last season, and he was the Big 12's top hitter in conference-only games in 2021 with a .393 average.
Small Town, Big Time
What is it about OSU closers and small towns?! We don't know, but Trevor Martin is continuing a trend this season.
Martin hails from Asher, Oklahoma, population 412, and the right-hander is 1-0 with four saves and a 3.38 ERA in a team-high nine stints out of the bullpen this season. He's also tallied 19 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings of work.
In 2014, Brendan McCurry set OSU's single-season saves record with 19 to earn first-team All-America honors. A native of Tupelo, Oklahoma, population 330, McCurry is also the Cowboys' leader in career saves with 27. His brother, Randy, had 10 saves in 2009 and finished his career with a dozen.
Another small-town Oklahoma kid, Jordy Mercer, from Taloga, Oklahoma, population 300, served as OSU's closer from 2006-08 and ranks second on OSU's all-time list with 17 saves.
Late-Inning Heroics
The Cowboys have shown a flair for the dramatic to find success late in games and emerge victorious.
• In the series finale and rubber game at Vanderbilt, the Cowboys scored two runs in the ninth inning to break a 5-5 tie and claim the win.
• The Cowboys trailed Wright State 6-2 in the ninth inning of the second game of their Sunday doubleheader but scored four runs to send the game to extra innings before getting a walk-off win in the 10th.
• OSU was down 4-1 after seven innings in its series opener at Arizona State but plated four runs in the eighth inning and two in the ninth to secure a 7-5 victory.
• In game two of the BYU series, neither team had scored entering the eighth inning. The Pokes rallied for three runs with two outs and went on to a 3-0 win.
Short Hops
• OSU currently sits at No. 24 in the official NCAA RPI, while DBU is No. 2 and Seton Hall No. 154.
• The Cowboys' pitching staff ranks second in the Big 12 with 167 strikeouts and third with a 3.51 ERA.
• Justin Campbell leads the Big 12 lead and ranks 11th nationally with 39 strikeouts.
• OSU's .984 fielding percentage ranks 11th nationally and is second in the Big 12. The Cowboys have committed just nine errors on the season.
• Cowboy pinch hitters are 11-for-20 (.550) on the season.
