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STILLWATER — The Cowboys haven’t made it past the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament since 2019, but there are some parallels shaping up between that 2019 season and this one.
Oklahoma State earned the 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host Nebraska, Florida and Niagara for Regional play this weekend at O’Brate Stadium. OSU’s first game of the Regional comes at 6 p.m. Friday against Niagara.
The Cowboys are coming off a Big 12 Tournament win … for the first time since 2019 when OSU last made it to a Super Regional.
Like the 2019 conference tournament, the 2024 Big 12 tourney had some funky start times for the Pokes. OSU’s first three games in Arlington all started after 8:30 p.m. with the latest of those starting at 9:40 p.m. Back in the 2019 tournament in Oklahoma City, OSU opened with back-to-back games that started past 8:30 p.m., the latest coming at 9:45 p.m.
The Cowboys earned the 9 seed in the national tournament in 2019, which allowed them to host, but standing water in the outfield at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium meant OSU had to host the Regional at Bricktown. So, the Pokes essentially moved to Oklahoma City, spending back-to-back weeks there.
This 2024 group has gone through something similar. Ahead of the Big 12 Tournament, OSU closed out its regular season with a series in Houston that got cut down to two games because of weather. OSU went straight from Houston up to Arlington for the conference tournament, meaning the Cowboys were away from Stillwater for 12 days.
Although that couldn’t have been easy, it allowed this group to spend a ton of time together. Starting pitcher Sam Garcia mentioned OSU’s Buc-ee’s trips while in the Lone Star State were a lot of fun. He also said there was a lot of MLB The Show being played in the hotel among groups of players and that the team got together for some workouts at the pool.
“Fabulous for comradery,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “Time spent together, isolated with one another, secluded and removed from some of the distractions, meals together, late bus rides together, funny moments, things you’ll never forget, funny sounds being made from the bullpen and the dugout. To go on a road trip like we did for 12 days and play in a couple of different sites and venues, it’s just time together and trust.
“You learn how to motivate yourself even if the externals aren’t there. I think that was really good for us, and I think these kids are really enjoying one another’s time. Just create that same type of close-nit focus here back at home this week.”
Another parallel this postseason has to 2019 is that Nebraska is in OSU’s Regional. The Cornhuskers were a part of an electric OSU moment in that Regional, as Trevor Boone stepped to the plate with two on in the ninth inning with the Cowboys down two runs. Boone was the Big 12’s leader in home runs that season, and when he got up to the plate, it was as if everyone in the stadium knew he was going to hit another. He did. Then he let rip a bat toss that could be rivaled by only Sam Show.
THREE
RUN
BOMBOklahoma State takes the lead!! #RoadToOmaha | @OSUBaseball pic.twitter.com/b8fba5FfAl
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 2, 2019
OSU ended up losing to Texas Tech in three games in the 2019 Super Regional round and haven’t gotten that far since, but with as hot as this team finished the regular season and how hot they’ve stayed through some late nights in the postseason, it’d be tough to put a cap on what this group could achieve.
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Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.