No Home Runs in Arizona, What About Alabama? How Does Oklahoma State Rate?
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State (37-20) will open up the Tuscaloosa Regional on Friday at 1 p.m. against Big South Tournament champion SC Upstate (33-28) on ESPN+. Host team Alabama (37-19) will play Alabama State (34-21) at 6 p.m. Alabama is good but this is a winnable situation for the Cowboys.
OSU has 137 home tuns this season. That is the second-most in the NCAA and almost double the number of any other team in Tuscaloosa. SC Upstate has 70 home runs and Bama has 69. The Cowboys have scored 485 runs so far this season. SC Upstate is close with 464 runs, Alabama State is next at 373, then Alabama at 355.
The ballpark, Sewell-Thomas Stadium is not an offensive house as far as college stadiums go. The dimensions of the symmetrical ballpark are deceiving. The ballpark is 320 feet down the lines, 360 feet in the alleys and 390 feet to dead center. This time of year the winds are generally out of the southwest. For the stadium layout that is generally from home plate to right field. That should be good for the Pokes loaded left-hand line-up.
More reasons to believe the ESPN experts Mike Rooney and Kyle Peterson, who both liked the Cowboys as a “cinderella” in the tournament overall.
“The Cowboys are a No. 2 seed with talent and pedigree, and they are playing their best baseball late in the year. They had won all three of their final conference series including two at Arizona State,” Rooney said. “Oklahoma State is as healthy as they’ve been in three seasons and that includes earlier this season. They have deeper pitching than they had earlier and they have explosive offense.”
“(Ethan) Lund is number three in the country in punch outs,” Peterson added. “I agree that Oklahoma State is a dangerous team in the regional in Tuscaloosa and beyond in a super regional. They are also a team that is used to being in regionals and playing good competition.”
Now, checking Baseball America, they ranked each team in the NCAA Tournament and came up with this:
11. Florida State (38-17) - A potential super regional match-up if they win the Tallahassee Regional. Their run differential is +2.8 and the average fastball velocity is 91.9 mph. They are loaded with talented left-handed arms including Wes Mendes and Trey Beard.
25. Alabama (37-19) - The run differential is slim at +1.4, but average fastball velocity is 91.4 mph. Offense has been disappointing and they depend on their pitching staff.
29. Oklahoma State (37-20) - They are +2.0 on run differential and average fastball velocity is 91.8 mph. They can batter opposing pitching staff into submission on good days. The trouble is sometimes the offense has to cover for a pitching staff that sturggles to maintain leads.
30. Coastal Carolina ((37-21) - The second seed in Tallahassee, they are solid with +1.6 run differential and 90.1 mph on fastball speed. They have a solid but unspectacular lineup of hitters. Pitcher Cameron Flukey has missed much of the season, but if he is back that makes the Chanticleers better.
54, SC Upstate (33-28) - In a word they are a longshot, but they’ve made good on that. Biggest problem is bullpen is inconsistent.
61. Alabama State (34-21) - Offense is solid, the pitching staff will be overtaxed by most batting orders in the tournament and certainly in the Tuscaloosa Regional.
