Published: May 07, 2008 11:05 am            

Another chance

Cowboys could get huge win today at No. 7 Rice

Oklahoma State suffered its worst loss of the season Sunday.

Tonight, the Cowboys could earn one of their biggest wins of the year.

OSU heads to Houston for a 6:30 p.m. meeting with perennial powerhouse Rice at Reckling Park. The No. 7 Owls won a national championship in 2003 and have advanced to the College World Series in each of the past two seasons.

“These kind of games are easy to get excited for,” said O-State coach Frank Anderson. “Every game is separated, so I don’t think (Sunday’s loss) will have any factor on (tonight’s contest) at all.”

The Cowboys won three games last weekend against Utah Valley State, but the Wolverines — who have an RPI of 261 out of 296 NCAA Division-I teams — pulled off an 11-3 upset in the finale.

The loss caused OSU (35-12) to drop from fifth to 13th in the RPI and snapped a 12-game winning streak — the school’s longest since 1998.

“The effort and intensity just wasn’t there,” said senior Rebel Ridling. “Their pitcher (Bryan Smith) battled and they competed at the plate — and the result showed.”

Losing to UVS had little effect on O-State in the polls. The Cowboys actually jumped from 10th to No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings and also went from No. 9 to eighth in the USA Today/ESPN poll. In Baseball America’s poll, OSU dropped from ninth to 10th.

Meanwhile, Rice — which has the nation’s fifth-best RPI and is at the top of the Conference USA standings — faced Texas State on Tuesday in the school’s first outing since defeating Central Florida, 7-6, in Orlando on April 27.

The Owls (34-11), who make a midweek return to Stillwater in 2010, are led by Diego Seastrunk — a Freshman All-America selection a year ago who is batting a club-best .375.

“We have to go out there and battle,” Ridling said. “That’s how we are — we’re the team that’s going to scrap and grind it out and do whatever it takes to win.”

Tonight will be OSU’s last true road game of the season and could have national seed implications.

The Cowboys, who are projected to host an NCAA Regional by Rivals.com, ESPN.com and Baseball America, take on Texas Tech for a three-game series starting Friday at Reynolds Stadium, then close the regular season next weekend against Bedlam rival Oklahoma at Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

OU and Tech rank ninth and 10th, respectively, in the conference.



By the numbers

The Cowboys lead the Big 12 in batting average (.326), runs scored (386), home runs (61) and triples (25). OSU is also tied with Nebraska and TTU for first in fielding percentage (.972) and ranks third in team pitching with a collective ERA of 3.83.

Individually, sophomore pitcher Andy Oliver ranks fifth in strikeouts (71), senior Matt Hague is fifth in hits (68), and Ridling is tied with Texas A&M’s Luke Anders for fourth in home runs (12).

        

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