Cowboy standout
Garrett McCain has quietly enjoyed a breakout year in a lackluster season for OSU baseball.
While the middle of the Big 12 standings remain in play, with as many as five teams still capable of claiming second place, Oklahoma State is more interested in the bottom.
Avoiding the bottom
In the nine-team Big 12, eight teams qualify for the conference tournament, which is set to open Wednesday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
One team stays home
The Cowboys, of course, prefer to play, despite the rash of injuries that have compromised their roster and this season. No knock on Kansas State, but missing the tournament plays very differently for OSU, a proud program less than 12 months removed from a College World Series run and a local presence expected and needed in Bricktown.
So the Cowboys, losers of six straight and nine of their last 10, are motivated to win their way downtown – extra motivated even, with Bedlam closing out their regular season.
“Comes at a good time, because we can use every advantage, for sure,” said OSU center fielder Garrett
McCain. “It hasn’t been the ideal year we wanted. But all we can do is continue to put ourselves in good situations and take it one weekend at a time. This weekend is Bedlam.
“We’ve put ourselves in position that if we go out and play good baseball, we can extend our season another weekend. At this point in the year, that’s all you can do, try to play good baseball and live on to the next weekend.”
The Cowboys’ rained-out third game in the Texas series two weeks ago looms large. OSU holds a slim ½-game lead over Kansas State entering the weekend, at 6-14 in Big 12 play, while K-State stands 6-15. The Cowboys’ magic number is 3 – any combination of OSU wins and K-State losses totaling three secures them the final spot into the tournament.
Weather could play a role, too, with rain in the forecast off and on both in Oklahoma City and Waco, where the Wildcats are headed to take on Baylor.
Sooners eyeing home regional—and more
Oklahoma coach Pete
Hughes hasn’t held back from telling his players what’s on the line this weekend—the possibility of hosting an NCAA Tournament Regional—and beyond.
“I talk about it all the time,” Hughes said. “I had a Power Point (last week) on how to win the national championship. ‘Hey, you’re getting to ahead of yourself.’ Well, we’ve got to know the road we’re going down if we’re going to end up there so I’m telling them how to get there so hosting a regional is one of those stops along the way. I don’t do that with many of our teams but they’re really mature, those guys.
“They’re workaholics; they’re not ego guys. So those guys can take it one step at a time—they can look at the big picture and figure out how to get there. They never feel great about themselves after wins; they never feel too down after losses. Those are winning qualities. So I outlined everything for them. If I can’t talk to my team about how to go to Omaha, because I don’t think they can handle it, then we ain’t going to Omaha.”
Quotable
OSU coach Josh Holliday on the need to keep pressing to the end:
“We love these kids. And we’re proud. And we’re going to keep fighting back every single day, I tell you that. To not do that or not have any other outlook would be a failure in leadership and it would be a failure on behalf of our program. We’re not going to have that. Has it been an easy ride? Not at all. But we’re still fighting hard. We still have meaningful opportunities in front of us and we haven’t lost sight of that.” BY JOHN HELSLEY AND
RYAN ABER