at #3 Oklahoma State (2-2)
Wright State (0-3)
Sat., Feb. 26 • 2 p.m. / Sun., Feb. 27 • 1 p.m. (DH)
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.
Video/TV: ESPN+ (Sat. & Sun. Gm. 1) okstate.com/watch/ (Sun. Gm. 2)
(Robert Allen, Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: Pete 94.3 FM/KSPI-AM 780 (Sat.)/KSPI 93.7 FM (Sun.) & stillwaterradio.net (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball
About Oklahoma State
• OSU is 2-2 on the season, and the third-ranked Cowboys open the home portion of their schedule with a three-game series against Wright State at O'Brate Stadium this weekend beginning Saturday and concluding with a Sunday doubleheader.
• 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 322-178-2 at his alma mater.
About Wright State
• Wright State, an NCAA Regional team in 2021, opened its season with a weekend series at 11th-ranked Georgia Tech and was swept by the Yellow Jackets.
• Alex Sogard is in his fourth season as the Raiders' head coach and owns an 83-42 career record.
• WSU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:
Saturday: RHP Aaron Ernst — 0-0 with a 3.86 ERA, 2 K, 3 BB in 2.1 IP
Sunday: RHP Jake Shirk — 0-1, 18.00 ERA, 1 K, 2 BB in 3.0 IP
LHP Sebastian Gongora — 0-0, 4.15 ERA, 4 K, 2 BB in 4.1 IP
Cowboys vs. Raiders
OSU is 5-1 all time against Wright State, including a 2-1 mark under Josh Holliday. The two teams last met during the 2019 season in Stillwater, with the Cowboys winning twice in the three-game series.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
With its opening weekend series win at Vanderbilt, OSU moved up the national rankings this week. After being ranked as high as No. 7 in the preseason, the Cowboys come in at No. 3 in this week's
Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls, matching their highest-ever ranking under Josh Holliday. The Pokes are also No. 4 in the D1Baseball and Perfect Game polls and No. 5 in the NCBWA rankings.
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.
Holliday is one of four coaches to reach the 300-win milestone at OSU, joining Gary Ward (953), Frank Anderson (329) and Toby Greene (318), and he now ranks third on the all-time wins list with 322.
Close Calls
OSU is 79-47 in one-run games under Josh Holliday, and 81 of the Cowboys’ 179 losses under Holliday have come by two runs or less.
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.
Big 12 Love For The Pokes
OSU was picked by league coaches to finish second behind Texas in the 2022 Big 12 Conference standings. Three Cowboys - Justin Campbell, Nolan McLean and Jake Thompson - were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team, while Victor Mederos was named the Preseason Newcomer of the Year and Roc Riggio the Preseason Freshman of the Year.
Change Of Scenery
OSU added six Division I transfers to its roster for 2022 - Victor Mederos (Miami), Bayden Root (Ohio State), Jimmy Ramsey (Kentucky), Dillon Marsh (Kentucky), David Mendham (South Carolina) and Griffin Doersching (Northern Kentucky). Additionally, the Cowboys have four new JUCO transfers with D1 experience - Lyle Miller-Green (George Mason), Brett Brown (Texas A&M), Solomon Washington (Tennessee Tech) and Chase Adkison (Boise State).
100 K Klub
Justin Campbell reached the century mark in strikeouts in 2021, posting 102 punchouts in 84 innings, to mark the 18th time an OSU pitcher has recorded 100 strikeouts in a season. He is the 15th different Cowboy hurler to achieve the feat and the first since Thomas Hatch (112) and Trey Cobb (100) in 2016.
