John Smith Talks Mastrogiovanni and Ferrari Status for Ballpark Bout
STILLWATER – The bad taste of the 21-20 dual loss at Missouri last Sunday is still fresh and the Bout at the Ballpark with Iowa looms this Saturday at 8 p.m. and Iowa is favored in seven weights including 197-pounds where top-ranked A.J. Ferrari of Oklahoma State will continue to miss action following the harrowing head-on collision that he and fellow Oklahoma State athlete Isai Rodriguez were involved in on Jan. 24, 2022. The accident occurred on State Highway 33 near Perkins. Oklahoma State has been missing No. 7-ranked Trevor Mastrogiovanni at 125-pounds. He injured an ankle late in his win in the dual last Friday with then No. 9-South Dakota State. That dual win was the 500th in Gallagher-Iba Arena for the Cowboys.
Iowa is ranked No. 2 in the nation and Oklahoma State has fallen to No. 11 heading toward Saturday. The Hawkeyes don’t care about the Cowboys problems. In a renewal of one of the most storied rivalries in all of college sports and sports in general, Iowa just wants to whip the Cowboys butts.
Cowboys head coach John Smith met with the media Wednesday and confirmed that the Cowboys No. 2 wrestler at 133-pounds Daton Fix will wrestle against Iowa and before at a little after 6 p.m. will wrestle at his spot with Team USA against the International All-Stars at 57 kg. That means Fix will wrestle at 125.666 pounds for his international freestyle match and then jump in against Iowa’s No. 3 Austin DeSantos at 133-pounds.
The bigger situation is at 125-pounds and whether Mastrogiovanni ranked No. 7 will be ready to face Iowa’s No. 12 Drake Ayala.
“Mastrogiovanni has a possibility of wrestling this weekend,” Smith said. “We just need to see how the next few days go for him.”
Another source confirmed that Mastrogiovanni had been working out and it sure looked like he was going to be able to wrestle.
The news with Ferrari is still vague and another source said they think that A.J. Ferrari is way off from being able to take the mat.
“He is still day-to-day. No decisions have been made. He is doing some rehab. His body is improving,” Smith said staying non-committal. “We may not know anything for quite some time.”
Smith said because of swelling they have still not done a complete MRI. There have been some body scans and they have cleared him of any internal bleeding or injuries. Smith also is not concerned about weight. He felt that when Ferrari is not working out that he loses weight.
“He is still sleeping a lot and resting,” Smith added. “There are still things that our medical teams is holding him back from and it is the right thing to do.”
Smith did say that if Mastrogiovanni can’t go that it will not be red-shirt freshman Alexander Yokubaitis that will wrestle in his place but that they will bust the red-shirt on talented freshman Cooper Birdwell from Lewis, Mont.
“We couldn’t get him ready last Sunday because of protocols to dropping weight,” Smith explained. “he is ready this week.”
All stops pulled out when it is Oklahoma State vs. Iowa.