Cowboy Baseball Looks To Continue Successful Homestand

Utah Tech (5-8) at #13 Oklahoma State (10-3)

Fri., March 10 • 6 p.m. / Sat., March 11 (DH) • 1 & 6 p.m. / Sun., March 12 • 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

Video/TV: okstate.com/watchbsb-ut
Radio: KSPI 93.7 FM or Pete 94.3 FM
The Varsity Network – okla.st/GetVarsity
(Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Live Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
Twitter In-Game Updates: @OSUBaseball

About Oklahoma State

     • Winners of seven in a row, OSU is 10-3 and continues a 10 games in 12 days homestand when the Pokes host Utah Tech in a four-game weekend series at O'Brate Stadium.
     • 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 372-202-2 at his alma mater. The Cowboys have earned an NCAA Region berth each year under his watch.

About Utah Tech

     • Utah Tech is 5-8 and coming off a midweek win against BYU; all 13 of the Trailblazers' games this season have been at home.
     • Chris Pfatenhauer is in his 11th season as UTU's head coach and owns a 305-201-1 record.
     • This will mark the first-ever time OSU and UTU have met on the diamond.
     • UTU's starting pitching rotation vs. the Cowboys is expected to be:

     Game 1: RHP Brett Porthan — 2-1, 7.98 ERA in four appearances; 9 K, 6 BB in 14.2 IP
     Game 2: RHP Ryan Hardman — 0-3, 10.00 ERA in three starts; 7 K, 5 BB in 9.0 IP
     Game 3: RHP Jake Dahle — 0-2, 14.73 ERA in three starts; 10 K, 5 BB in 11.0 IP
     Game 4: LHP Carsten Herman — 2-0, 8,38 ERA in four relief appearances; 10 K, 3 BB in 9.2 IP

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

     OSU was ranked as high as No. 8 in the preseason national polls, getting that ranking from USA TODAY Sports. This week, the Cowboys are ranked No. 13 by D1Baseball, 14th by USA TODAY, 15th by the NCBWA, 18th by Baseball America, 23rd by Perfect Game and 24th by Collegiate Baseball.
     OSU has been nationally ranked for 41 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.

Sparkling Statistics

     • Nolan McLean leads the NCAA with six saves.
     • McLean also ranks fourth nationally by having drawn 19 walks, and he is third in the Big 12 with a .544 on-base percentage.
     • OSU sports a .301 team batting average. Chase Adkison is hitting a team-high .394 and is one of six Cowboys with a batting average over .300.
     • Cowboy reliever Isaac Stebens leads the Big 12 with a 1.69 ERA, while Juaron Watts-Brown is fifth at 2.25. Led by that duo, OSU's pitching staff ranks second in the league with 131 strikeouts.
     • OSU owns a .983 fielding percentage and has committed just eight errors — the Pokes rank second in the Big 12 in both categories.

Bat Man

     Another reliable bat in the middle of the Cowboys' 2022 batting order returned this season in the form of David Mendham.
     In his first season in Stillwater after transferring from South Carolina, Mendham started 57 games (50 at first base) and hit .276 with 16 doubles, 11 homers and 45 RBIs.
     Mendham, an honorable mention All-Big 12 pick, committed just one fielding error on the year.
     In 2023, Mendham is hitting .358 with four homers and 12 RBIs, and he ranks in the top 10 in the Big 12 in hits (19), doubles (6), total bases (37) and slugging percentage (.698).
    Random Fact: Mendham is dating OSU softball All-American pitcher Kelly Maxwell.

Meet The New Guy

     OSU bolstered its pitching staff with the addition of transfer Juaron Watts-Brown, who has emerged as the Friday night starter in the Cowboys' weekend rotation.
     The righty picked up his first win in an OSU uniform against Austin Peay as he recorded eight strikeouts for the second consecutive game. He ranks second in the Big 12 with 22 strikeouts, fourth in opponent batting average at .175 and fifth with a 2.25 ERA.
     Watts-Brown transferred to OSU after earning Freshman All-America honors at Long Beach State last season. He went 4-4 with a 3.68 ERA in 15 appearances, including 12 starts, for the Dirtbags and racked up 111 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings.
     During the month of May, Watts-Brown went 3-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 33 innings, and he posted double-digit strikeout games in four of his last five starts of the season.
     Watts-Brown's first collegiate season also saw him toss the first complete game no-hitter in LBSU history, and he set the school record for strikeouts per nine innings in a season with 13.62.
    Random Fact: Watts-Brown was named the West Yosemite League Player of the Year in baseball, football and basketball during his prep career at Hanford High School; he played quarterback on the gridiron and forward in hoops.

Stillwater Slingers

     A pair of hometown hurlers have stepped up for the Cowboys this season.
     Southpaw Drew Blake picked up the win in relief in the season opener vs. Missouri as the redshirt freshman worked two shutout innings in relief. Blake's seven appearances are tied for the most in the Big 12 this season.
     Isaac Stebens tossed four scoreless innings out of the bullpen in his debut against Vanderbilt, then worked two more shutout frames with four Ks in the combined no-hitter against Cal Baptist.
     A righty is in his first season with the Pokes after a JUCO All-American career at Cowley County CC, Stebens owns a 2-0 record and Big 12-best 1.69 ERA; he also ranks sixth in the league with 19 strikeouts.
     Random Fact: Blake's dad, Randy, was teammates with Josh Holliday on the Stillwater High School football team in the mid-1990s; Holliday was the Pioneers' quarterback, and Blake starred at wide receiver.

Freshman Swinging A Hot Bat

      A month into his first collegiate season, Nolan Schubart has proven to be a powerful addition to the OSU lineup.
     The left-handed hitting outfielder boasts a .372 batting average and leads the Big 12 lead with fivehome runs while ranking fourth in RBIs (18) and fifth in slugging percentage (.744).
     Schubart was 4-of-10 with two homers and three RBIs in the LMU series, and his seventh inning round-tripper provided the lone run in OSU's series opening win.
     Schubart followed that with a 3-for-6 effort in a win at Missouri State in which he slugged two tape-measure homers en route to six RBIs.
     Random Fact: Schubart was originally committed to play at Michigan before a coaching change there led to him signing with the Cowboys.

RPI Talk

Oklahoma State enters the weekend No. 25 in the official NCAA RPI; Utah Tech is 279.

We're Going Streaking

     OSU is currently on a seven-game winning streak, which is tied for the sixth longest of the Josh Holliday coaching era. It marks the Cowboys' seventh seven-game win streak under Holliday.
     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 went on a 12-game winning streak in 2014. Last season's 11-game winning streak was the third longest of the Holliday era, and the Cowboys had eight-game winning streaks in 2013 and 2017.
     The program record for longest winning streak is 30 games, set by the 1986 Cowboys.

Utah Tech (5-8) at #13 Oklahoma State (10-3)

Fri., March 10 • 6 p.m. / Sat., March 11 (DH) • 1 & 6 p.m. / Sun., March 12 • 1 p.m.
O'Brate Stadium (8,000) • Stillwater, Okla.

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Players Mentioned

Chase Adkison

Drew Blake

Nolan McLean

David Mendham

Roc Riggio

Nolan Schubart

Isaac Stebens

Juaron Watts-Brown

Oklahoma State University Athletics