Looking for Something New in Cowboy Baseball? Try Pitching Coach Blake Hawksworth
STILLWATER – When the Cowboys finished last season in the Athens Regional with a very tough, hard luck, loss to Duke to finish as the runner-up on the University of Georgia’s home diamond it was the end of an era. Now as they open on Feb. 13 (Friday the 13th) there is a start of soemthing new. For as long as Josh Holliday has been the head coach of the Cowboys (14-years), former OSU pitcher and ORU head coach Rob Walton had been the pitching coach. Pushed together by then athletic director Mike Holder, Holliday and Walton were the two candidates to replace Fran Anderson as Cowboys head coach. It worked, but there were times it was strained. Now Holliday has hired his first pitching coach as Oklahoma State head coach, Blake Hawksworth.
The former big league pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals (six seasons minors and majors combined) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (four seasons combined), Hawksworth has been an agent, coached high school and college at Cal-State Fullerton, Grand Canyon University, UC-Irvine, and the University of Oregon.
Holliday seems more than happy with his hire. he first met Hawksworth when he was a teammate of his brother, Matt Holliday at St. Louis. That wasn’t what got him the job, Josh said every person he asked, every time, pointed to Hawksworth out in Oregon when quizzed on who was getting it done coaching pitchers.
"Blake did a great job in the fall getting to know each kid, understanding what makes them tick. He watched a lot of film to familiarize himself with their history… he's got a good track record with his baseball journey,” Holliday said. “He's learned from some tremendous people so he's had a unique experience as a player and as a coach."
Hawksworth goes into the opening weekend in Arlington at Glode Life Field with some rebuilding to do. Some pitcher graduated or transferred, two being counted on in imposing 6-9 right-hander Hunter Watkins and Matthew Brown are injured and Holliday said likely out for the season.
The opening weekend rotation will feature left-handed junior transfer Hudson Barrett from UC-Santa Barbara, right-handed returner and senior Mario Pesca, some 50 pounds lighter, and returning sophomore left-hander Etah Lund.
Pesca is not only lighter, but he is diplomatic for a New Yorker from the Bronx.
"It's an honor that I was able to attain two great pitching coaches, and (Blake Hawksworth) has been tremendous,” Pesca told the media of now being coached by Hawksworth. “Our relationship with him, just as his staff and kind of his way of how he preaches his philosophies, is awesome and so process-oriented. We just give in to the process, the results will follow. So it's a pretty good mentality for the staff this year."
This will be fun to see develop. Change can be good, one thing for sure, it will be different.
