The NCAA Stillwater Regional opens play Friday at noon with ORU (41-14) facing Arkansas (35-22) at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. The second game pits OSU (37-18) against St. John’s (39-14) at 6 p.m. Saturday’s game times will be the same, with the loser’s bracket game played at noon and the winner’s bracket teams squaring off at 6 p.m.
“There are some really good teams, obviously,” said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. “When you see St. John’s pop up there as a four seed with close to 40 wins and knowing the type of baseball they’ve historically played, that’s a really, really good four seed. And then we’ve seen Oral Roberts – excellent ballclub. Then an Arkansas team that has been highly competitive, especially the last 30 games in the SEC.
“It’s a great tournament with strong ballclubs up-and-down the bracket for sure. That’s a statement to the number of good teams in this area. To have Arkansas, Oral Roberts and ourselves all within a close drive, to have that much good baseball being played in one area, and add to that St. John’s, it should be a tremendous regional.”
This marks the second-straight year the Cowboys have hosted an NCAA Regional and the 12th time overall at Reynolds Stadium. OSU is 36-11 all time in Regional play on their current home field and has won seven Regional titles, including one last season.
Excitement levels and crowds at Reynolds Stadium should be high with OSU, Arkansas and ORU all within a 180-mile radius of Stillwater.
“It shapes up to be a packed house every game, which is awesome,” Holliday said. “It’s good for college baseball and will be great for Stillwater. It’s great to see other programs that have that type of support roll into town and make it a weekend of tremendous energy and great play.”
Added OSU senior catcher/outfielder Gage Green, “We’re really excited and just glad to be in a regional – it doesn’t really matter who we play, we treat everyone the same. We’re glad to be able to play at home one more time, and hopefully it’s another success like last year.
“There’s going to be a lot of people here, a decent amount of crowd for each team, and it’s going to be fun because there’s going to be a good atmosphere for everybody.”
The Cowboys enter the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship with a 37-18 record. OSU finished second in the Big 12 Conference regular season standings and advanced to the conference tourney championship game for the second consecutive year.
OSU is making its 41st NCAA Tournament appearance, a total that ranks fourth all time, and the Cowboys own an all-time NCAA tourney record of 139-87 (.615), with the 139 wins ranking seventh in NCAA history.
The 2015 Regional berth is the third in as many seasons under Holliday. In Holliday’s first season at the helm of his alma mater, the Cowboys advanced to the finals of the 2013 NCAA Louisville Regional as the No. 3 seed, and a year ago, OSU captured its first Regional championship since 2007.
OSU is seeking to advance to the fourth NCAA Super Regional in program history (1999, 2007, 2014). Should the Cowboys advance out of the Stillwater Regional, they will face the winner of the NCAA Springfield Regional in a Super Regional.
The Cowboys have appeared in 19 College World Series, a total that ranks sixth all time, with their last trip coming in 1999.
