Stillwater Regional: Taking a closer look at Oklahoma State

For the first time since 2015, Arkansas is hitting the road for the postseason. It will travel three hours to the west for the 2022 Stillwater Regional hosted by No. 7 overall seed Oklahoma State. The other participants are Grand Canyon and Missouri State.

Before play begins Friday, HawgBeat is taking a closer look at all three potential opponents. Next up is the host, Oklahoma State…

Closer look at Grand Canyon

Record: 39-20 (15-9 Big 12)

The Cowboys were successful during their 2022 Big 12 slate, winning six of eight series.

Finishing tied for second in the final standings with Texas Tech and Oklahoma, the Oklahoma State’s 15 victories in conference play earned it a third-place finish using head-to-head tiebreakers, as it was swept in a home matchup against the Red Raiders. Although Oklahoma State and Oklahoma each took a pair of victories away from the annual Bedlam series, one of the Pokes’ two losses came in the standalone non-conference meeting played at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.

Oklahoma State played an impressive non-conference schedule that included Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Gonzaga and Dallas Baptist. While it was successful against the Commodores, taking the season-opening road series, and the Sun Devils, winning both games of the road trip, it did not have the same positive outcome against the Bulldogs and Patriots. Playing in Stillwater against Gonzaga, the Pokes were swept — in three one-run games, including a 10-inning nail biter — and split two games with Dallas Baptist.

While the Cowboys’ overall record is admirable, their 11-13 regular season record against teams that finished in the top 50 of the final D1 Baseball RPI rankings is less stirring.

Despite that, a run to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament, where they were dispatched by the eventual runners-up in Texas, was good enough to earn a regional hosting berth, as well as super regional hosting rights as a top-eight national seed.

Head Coach: Josh Holliday (10th season)

The Cowboys are led by Josh Holliday, who played at Oklahoma State for the entirety of his collegiate career.

His name is all over the Pokes’ record book, with the most walks in program history, plus ranking in the top five for most runs, hits, doubles, total bases and RBIs. He was then drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays and played two seasons in their farm system before retiring from professional baseball.

Following the conclusion of his playing career, he returned to Stillwater as an assistant coach under his father Tom Holliday. He filled that job for three seasons before moving on to assistant roles at North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Arizona State and Vanderbilt over the next nine years. After three seasons under Commodores head coach Tim Corbin, he returned to Stillwater as the head coach of the Cowboys.

To date, he has notched a 356-193-2 record, never finishing a season below .500 and earning an NCAA Tournament berth in each year. With Holliday at the helm, the Cowboys have won a Big 12 regular-season title and two Big 12 tournament titles. Their lone appearance in Omaha during his tenure came in 2016, but they have also appeared in two other super regionals in the past nine years.