Sunny Sunday Means Working Back Outside for Cowboy Baseball
STILLWATER – There are still remnants of snow on the field, but the temperature at over 50 degrees means the Cowboys are getting good work in on the field at O’Brate Stadium and in the indoor areas where the team can pursue the performance it will take to hit expectations for this season. When Oklahoma State opens the season in Nashville on Feb. 18 they will have several numbers ahead of their name. With D1 Baseball the number is seven, yep, those folks have the Cowboys nestled between No. 6 Stanford and No. 8 LSU. Oklahoma State’s Big 12 rival Texas is No. 1 with SEC powers Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi and Mississippi State filling out the rest of the top five.
The Cowboys lowest preseason ranking comes from the folks at Baseball America that seemingly have always been less high early on Oklahoma State. None of that matters. The freshman class that is very talented matters. The returning two-way performers like Nolan McLean and Justin Campbell matter. In a ballpark that plays a little more honest than the old band box of Allie P. Reynolds pitching will matter.
“It'll bring a lot of confidence, especially with our lineup,” Campbell said to media on Friday in a long Zoom call that acted as a baseball media day. “With how good they (hitters) are, they can easily put up four to five runs a game. Easily. And we can shut out guys six or seven innings and it can help our bullpen throw one to two guys a game. It's going to help us out a lot."
Mederos; the talented transfer from Miami, Fla. that is a native of Cuba; hasn’t taken long to grasp the situation. He said he came to Stillwater because Oklahoma State felt different, like family, and he was wanted. He also picks up strong instruction from pitching coach, often referred to as the “Wizard” Rob Walton.
"It's very competitive and just brings the best out of you, especially when you have Rob [Walton] as a pitching coach,” Mederos explained. “He always pushes you to your limits and tells you what you need to work on and makes you figure it out yourself. I think that's what I enjoy most is having a plan and a way to fix myself and see if it works or not. And if not, then he'll have a plan for you."
The plan is for those two, Campbell and Mederos to be the first two starting pitchers on weekend series.
"Absolutely. Either he's Friday or I'm Friday or Saturday, you know we're going to be getting the win Fridays and Saturdays,” Campbell said. “It's going to be a pretty damn good season this year."
Looking back on the last comparable season at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium and the Cowboys averaged scoring 7.46 runs a contest. Last season the Cowboys first in O’Brate Stadium they averaged 7.85 runs a game. There was a difference in how those runs were scored.
Follow the logic here as Oklahoma State in 2019 in Allie P. Reynolds hit 93 home runs with a slugging percentage of .465 and 28 stolen bases. In 2021 opening O’Brate Stadium the Pokes hit 73 home runs in more games, had a slugging percentage of .466, and stole 46 bases.
Head coach Josh Holliday is thankful for the stadium, the new field, the plush amenities for fans, and the fabulous training area for his team. He’s feeling good, but then around this time Josh Holliday is always feeling on top of the World.
“I love the group of guys we have this year,” answered the coach that never met a team he didn’t like. “I think the passion for your team is always there, but I do agree that there's probably less unknowns about right now for us, knowing that the season opens in two weeks at Vanderbilt and hopefully for us it's the most normal season we've had since 2019. That would be an awesome thing for everyone involved if that's the case."
Normal by the way means winning for Oklahoma State baseball.