Oklahoma State Looking to Make Statement in NCAA Tournament
![Head coach Josh Holliday reacts as the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) play the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) in Bedlam baseball on May 19, 2023 at L Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Okla. [Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_4368,h_2457/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/all_pokes/01jw9c06717jkkf5wf4q.jpg "Head coach Josh Holliday reacts as the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) play the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) in Bedlam baseball on May 19, 2023 at L Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Okla. [Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman]")
Oklahoma State is heading East for some postseason baseball.
After a difficult season, the Cowboys managed to win 10 of their past 12 games and sneak their way into the NCAA Tournament. Sitting at 28-23, OSU is the third seed in the Athens Regional and is set to face Duke in the first round before trying to knock off No. 7 overall seed Georgia.
While this season wasn’t ideal for the Cowboys, being in a position to play postseason baseball is something Josh Holliday’s team can be excited about. Considering all the adversity OSU has overcome this season, it’s impossible to count out this team as it gets ready for action in Athens.
"I'm so thrilled for this team for the fact that from now on, they'll never, ever quit at anything they do because they'll have something to look back on and say, 'Hey, when something seems like a big task or hard to figure out or I'm not sure I can do this,' they'll have this experience to draw from," Holliday said. "It's been an unbelievable thing to watch the kids stay with the challenge, to respond to it and then to find themselves and the success.
"We're really thankful for this opportunity. Going into this, you don't know where you fit in the grand scheme of things, but we're honored that we were chosen. A lot of good teams were in the mix for this opportunity. Being chosen for it, having earned it and being given a chance to continue on is a lot for where we've been as a team and what we've fought to do."
The Cowboys’ hopes of winning this Regional aren’t exactly the highest, but they’ve been among the best in the Big 12 over the past few weeks, and that could translate to postseason competition. Last season, OSU looked poised to make it out of the Stillwater Regional, but consecutive losses to Florida ended OSU’s season prematurely.
After OSU has spent the past few years getting eliminated on its home field, it finally has an opportunity to play the spoiler. If the Cowboys can perform well against Duke and set up a matchup against Georgia, they might be able to work their way into a Super Regional for the first time since 2019.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.