OSU Baseball: Cowboys Make NCAA Tournament Field, Headed to Athens

The Cowboys are in the NCAA Tournament field for the 12th season in a row, extending the fourth-longest active streak in the country.

Oklahoma State is the 3 seed in the Athens Regional along with Georgia, Duke and Binghamton.

The Cowboys closed excellently to make the tournament. OSU was 19-21 entering the month of May but closed 9-2 to finish 28-23 while sweeping UCF and Arizona State in conference series. That run added to a strength of schedule that ranked 13th nationally with 11 wins against teams in the top 50 of the RPI put the Cowboys into the dance.

“I’m so thrilled for this team for the fact that from now on, they’ll never, ever quit at anything they do because they’ll have something to look back on and say ‘Hey, when something seems like a big task or hard to figure out or I’m not sure I can do this,’ they’ll have this experience to draw from,” said Josh Holliday in OSU’s release. “It’s been an unbelievable thing to watch the kids stay with the challenge, to respond to it and then to find themselves and the success.

“We’re really thankful for this opportunity. Going into this, you don’t know where you fit in the grand scheme of things, but we’re honored that we were chosen. A lot of good teams were in the mix for this opportunity. Being chosen for it, having earned it and being given a chance to continue on is a lot for where we’ve been as a team and what we’ve fought to do.”

OSU and Duke will play at 5 p.m. (Central) on Friday.

Here is a broad look at the Regional.

Georgia

Record: 42-15
SEC: 18-12 — 5th
RPI: 2

The Bulldogs suffered an early exit in the SEC tourney, but they won 42 games in the regular season, which was enough to earn Georgia the 7 seed nationally.

Georgia has three players with at least 60 RBIs. Robbie Burnett leads the way with 66. He has hit 20 homers this season, making him one of eight Bulldogs with double-digit home runs. Georgia leads the country in home runs from a team with 133.

Duke

Record: 37-19
ACC: 17-13 — 7th
RPI: 31

The Blue Devils took two of three off Clemson in a late-season series. Clemson was ranked ninth nationally at the time and earned the national 11 seed in the tournament.

Duke’s Ben Miller is hitting .323 this season with 54 runs scored and 58 RBIs. He has 18 home runs.

Oklahoma State

Record: 28-23
Big 12 Record: 15-12 — 7th
RPI: 44

As previously mentioned, the Cowboys made a late push to get back into tourney contention, going 9-2 in their field 11 games.

Hawaii transfer Harrison Bodendorf has led the way for the Cowboys on the mound this season. He was named Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Year and brings a 2.77 ERA into the Regional. He’s 10-1 on the year with 100 strikeouts in 87 2/3 innings pitched.

OSU has two players hitting .300 in Brayden Smith (.312) and Colin Brueggemann (.301). Smith is a junior college transfer from Iowa Western. He leads the Cowboys with 62 hits. Brueggemann, a 6-foot-6 senior first baseman, is second among Cowboys in hits (59) and RBIs (52).

Nolan Schubart leads the Cowboys in RBIs (54), home runs (17) and runs scored (49). He’s been walked a team-high 44 times this year and has a .285 batting average heading into the Regional.

Binghamton

Record: 29-24
America East: 13-11 — 3rd
RPI: 163

Binghamton earned its way into the field by winning the America East conference tournament.

The Bearcats will bring five players hitting .300 or better to Athens, including Matt Bolton, who is hitting .356 with 60 runs scored and 32 RBIs.