Cowboys Baseball Preview: OSU Puts Big 12 Win Streak on Line vs. Sun Devils
The Oklahoma State baseball team has won six Big 12 games in a row as it heads out west to take on Arizona State beginning on Friday.
The Cowboys have swept their last two Big 12 series, including a thrilling three-game set at home last weekend against TCU. The streak has helped the Cowboys improve their standing in the Big 12 with two series remaining before the league’s best teams head to Surprise, Ariz., for the Big 12 Tournament.
OSU heads into the series in fifth place in the conference and Arizona State is one of the teams that that the Cowboys are chasing.
Here is a preview of the series, with the schedule, TV information and more.
TCU at Oklahoma State
Where: Phoenix Municipal Stadium
Schedule
Game 1: 8 p.m. CT Friday, ESPN2
Game 2: 8 p.m. CT Saturday, ESPN2
Game 3: 3 p.m. CT Sunday, ESPN+
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network (93.7 KSPI-FM) and The Varsity Network App (okla.state/GetVarsity)
Records: Oklahoma State, 31-17 (14-10 in Big 12); Arizona State, 33-15 (16-8)
National Rankings: Oklahoma State, not ranked; Arizona State, No. 16.
Last Big 12 Series: Oklahoma State swept TCU; Arizona State took two out of three from UCF.
At Stake: The Cowboys are two games behind the Sun Devils in the Big 12 standings. A sweep would be required to overtake ASU and move OSU up in the standings.
Previewing Oklahoma State
The series sweep of TCU continued Oklahoma State’s surge in the past couple of weeks. The Cowboys have now swept their last two Big 12 series (Texas Tech, TCU) and have won seven of their last eight games, dating back to the victory over Wichita state on April 21.
The Cowboys remain one of college baseball’s most powerful teams, and Kollin Ritchie has been nearly impossible to cool off. He hit three home runs in one game against TCU and now has 26 for the season, along with a .335 batting average and 67 RBI.
The Cowboys started Ethan Lund, Stormy Rhodes and Brennan Phillips last weekend against the Horned Frogs. But expect Mario Pesca (5-3) to play a big role whether he starts or comes on in relief.
Previewing Arizona State
The Sun Devils have won nearly every Big 12 series it has played this season, except for losing two out of three to West Virginia at home in March. Otherwise, ASU has beaten TCU, Kansas State, Arizona, Utah, BYU, Baylor and UCF. Arizona State’s only sweep was over Baylor.
Landon Hairston is on another planet at the plate. He has a .426 batting average with a .937 slugging percentage as he also has 25 home runs and 74 RBI. He’s also scored 70 runs. It’s hard to find a player with nearly as many runs scored as RBI.
Cole Carlon (5-2, 3.71) and Kole Klecker (5-2, 5.71) have the most starts of anyone on the team and are a good bet to start at least two games of the series. While Carlon started Game 1 against UCF last weekend, Arizona State started Colin Linder and Jaden Alba in the other two games, with Klecker coming on in relief in Game 2.
What’s Next: The Cowboys have four games remaining after this series. OSU faces Oral Roberts in Tulsa at mid-week and then hosts Arizona next weekend to end the Big 12 regular season.
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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