NCAA Baseball Tournament Regional Preview, Schedule: Cowboys Well-Equipped for Fayetteville

There have been five meetings between the Oklahoma State baseball team and the other three teams in the Fayetteville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The No. 3 seed Cowboys, fresh off their Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, went 3-2 in those five meetings with the field and beat all three teams one time.

OSU gets No. 2 seed Missouri State at 2 p.m. Friday. In the regular season game in early March, the Cowboys won 7-3 after a 3-for-4 outing from Colin Simpson and seven solid innings from Carson Teel.

If OSU rattles off its seventh straight win, either top-seeded Arkansas or Oral Roberts will be waiting. During the regular season, the Cowboys grabbed an impressive 8-3 win against Arkansas at the Frisco Baseball Classic and went 1-2 against ORU.

That experience against the other teams in the regional and current run of good form will undoubtedly suit the Cowboys well, although Josh Holliday knows past results are not an indicator of future success.

“We saw Arkansas very early, Missouri State very early and probably Oral Robert is the team we’re most familiar with having played them three times,” Holliday told reporters this week. “So, all the teams, I think, that are here have evolved over the year. I think everyone is in a better spot probably right now than they were earlier in the year. I know we are. So, I think it’s going to be an amazing tournament. The familiarity and talent on the field, along with the way the teams are playing should make for great baseball.”

After practice today in Fayetteville, @joshhollidayosu & @GarrettMcCain chatted about #okstate and the Pokes beginning the #RoadtoOmaha pic.twitter.com/nvJHrFBT69

— Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) June 1, 2017

Since OSU’s postseason virtually started with the pair of must-win Bedlam games to qualify for the Big 12 Championship, the Cowboys have outscored opponents 35-21 and haven’t lost. In fact, OSU has only trailed for 25 total outs since May 17. That’s about four complete innings of baseball.

This is the Cowboys’ fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and this one was probably the most unlikely in the program’s 43-appearance history. But surely the most entertaining.

Seeds

1. Arkansas (42-17)
2. Missouri State (40-17)
3. Oklahoma State (30-25)
4. Oral Roberts (42-14)

Full Regional Schedule

Friday

• Game 1: Missouri State vs. Oklahoma State, 2:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)
• Game 2: Arkansas vs. Oral Roberts, 7:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)

Saturday

• Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)
• Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)

Sunday

• Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 3:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)
• Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 8:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)

Monday

• Game 7: Necessary if Game 5 winner beats Game 4 winner in Game 6, 6:00 p.m. (WatchESPN)