Preview of the NCAA Stillwater Baseball Regional - Cowboys Get No. 7 National Seed

STILLWATER – You have to give Oklahoma State baseball credit. Going to Arlington and the Big 12 Baseball Tournament they were likely not a regional host site, but a 3-2 record at Globe Life Field going 1-2 with Texas and wins over TCU and Baylor put the Cowboys in the top eight in the eyes of the NCAA Baseball Selection Committee, as they were named the No. 7 seed.

Coming to Stillwater and O’Brate Stadium will be Oklahoma State’s first opponent and the No. 4 seed in the regional in Missouri Valley Champion Missouri State (30-27). The other first round game will feature the No. 2 seed Arkansas (38-18) of the SEC vs. Grand Canyon University (48-19) of the Big West.

Oklahoma State will be matched up with No. 10 seed North Carolina (38-19) and the winner of the Chapel Hill Regional, which includes Hofstra (30-21), Virginia Commonwealth (40-18) and Georgia (38-21).

Zeroing in on the Stillwater Regional where the Cowboys will play Missouri State at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 3 and No. 2 seed Arkansas will open with No. 3 seed Grand Canyon at noon earlier in the day.

We know the Oklahoma State well. The home team has been streaky winning six of their first eight in the season before losing three of the next four. At one point the Cowboys won 13-of-14 games. Late in the season the Cowboys had a seven-game win streak including a Big 12 series sweep at Texas followed by a five-game losing streak including losing three in a row at home to Texas Tech.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Thompson is top Cowboys hitter.

Oklahoma State is a good hitting team with a .289 average and an average of 7.2 runs scored per game and 10.0 hits per game. The Cowboys have 120 doubles on the season, 11 triples, and 80 home runs. The trouble is they strike out a lot with empty at bats 524 times versus drawing 288 walks. They don’t steal a lot, but they can execute small ball and they were successful on 55-of-71 steal attempts.

Here are the Cowboys top four offensive players in our opinion and some of their notable numbers on the season.

Oklahoma State Athletics

Campbell is All-BIg 12 pitcher.

Pitching the Cowboys have the second best ERA in the Big 12 with a 4.27. They only allow an average of 4.83 runs and 7.86 hits a game. They have only walked 218 batters and struck out 621.

Here are the Cowboys top pitchers and their notbal numbers.

Missouri State lost to the Cowboys 5-1 earlier in the season, but the Bears beat Arkansas 6-4 later in the season. They will not be intimidated coming into Stillwater and they finished the season strong winning five games to one loss in taking the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 13-3 win over Southern Illinois in the second championship game.

Missouri State University Athletics

Bears celebrate winning MVC Tournament.

A solid offensive team with power, the Bears average 7.64 runs and 10.19 hits a game. They have a .291 team batting average with 118 doubles, 9 triples and 99 home runs this season, They’ve walked 268 times to a big strike out number of 523. They have been successful on 19-of-24 stolen base attempts. They don’t run a lot.

Here are their top four hitters with some notable numbers.

Missouri State University Athletics

Adam Link on the mound.

Pitching is okay for Missouri State with a team ERA of 5.61. They allow 6.12 runs and 9.12 hits a game and almost a straight one-to-two walk to strike out ration at 227-to-448. Opponents are hitting .269 off Bears pitching.

Here are their top four hurlers in our scouting report.

No. 2 seed Arkansas finished 38-18 on the season and 18-12 in the SEC. They lost early in the year in a tournament in Texas to No. 2 national seed Stanford 5-0. They lost to Missouri State 6-4, and they went two and barbeque in the SEC Tournament. They were very good at home, but has a 7-8 record on the road and 3-3 in games at neutral sites. They don’t leave Baum Stadium in Fayetteville often.

University of Arkansas Athletics

Cayden Wallace and Michael Turner.

The Razorbacks have been hyped all season, but they have proven to be a pedestrian team offensively with a team batting average of .269 and only 6.85 runs and 8.98 hits on average a game. Power numbers are decent with 107 doubles, 10 triples, and 86 home runs. They walked 275 times to 440 strikes out, so they are not big swingers. They can run and were successful 41-of-50 times stealing.

Here are four of the top offensive players for Arkansas.

University of Arkansas Athletics

Evan Taylor is a sensational reliever.

Pitching is a strong suit for the Hogs as they had a team ERA of 3.92. Arkansas only allowed 4.21 runs and 7.3 hits a contest. They had a team 238/583 walks to strike out ration and opposing hitters were only batting .226 vs. Arkansas.

Here are the four pitchers we thought were at the top of the list for Arkansas. The two lefthanders, Smith and Taylor are freshmen.

Grand Canyon is an opponent that Oklahoma State is familiar with having played in Phoenix and also seen the Antelopes come to O’Brate last season for a three-game series. The Cowboys won the first two games 11-5 and 3-0 before a travel curfew 4-4 tie in the final game.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Tayler Aguilar leads GCU with 20 home runs.

This season the 41-9 Lopes have been good on the road with a 21-6 record in road games and 3-3 in neutral sites. They won two out of three from Arizona, split with No. 2 national seed Stanford, split with regional host Oregon State, and swept Texas Tech. GCU hits it well and pitches it well.

The team batting average is .309 and they average 6.9 runs and 10.9 hits a game with 122 doubles, 15 triples, and 68 home runs. They have only struck out 386 times this season.

Here are their top hitters and some notable numbers.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Daniel Avitia

Pitching Grand Canyon can do that too with a 4.48 team ERA and allowing only 184 walks compared to 572 strike outs. They allow an average of 5.0 runs and 8.88 hits a contest. one pitcher Daniel Avitia leads the Lopes with 107 punch outs.

Here are the top pitchers for GCU.

The Big 12 had just one national seed in Oklahoma State. Texas, who lost the Big 12 Championship Game to Oklahoma 8-1 on Sunday is the other conference team hosting and the Longhorns (42-19). They have Air Force (30-27) as their first round opponent. The other game will see Dallas Baptist (34-22-1) vs. Louisiana Tech (42-19).

The other Big 12 teams in the tournament are on the road including Big 12 Tournament Champion Oklahoma (37-20) playing Liberty (37-21) in the Gainesville Regional hosted by Florida (39-22); Big 12 regular season champion TCU (36-20) playing Louisiana (36-21) in the College Station Regional hosted by No. 5 seed Texas A&M (37-18); and Texas Tech (37-20) is in the Statesboro Regional hosted by No. 16 seed Georgia Southern (40-18). The Red Raiders will open with Notre Dame (35-14) in that event. 

During the season the Cowboys faced 11 teams (five in the Big 12) that are in the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament. The overall record against those teams was 18-15. Below is how the Pokes did against the teams in the NCAA field.

Oklahoma State had to worry at times, but the Cowboys have their regional, a national seed where they can host a super regional, and a road to Omaha that goes right through O’Brate Stadium.