Cheat Sheet for Stillwater Regional as Niagara, Nebraska, and Florida Come Calling (2024)

STILLWATER – You know that your Oklahoma State Cowboys are 40-17 and very happy to be hosting their own NCAA Baseball Regional. The Cowboys are 13-12 against teams that made it into the NCAA Tournament, but they have not played anybody that is coming to theirregional.

Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday wants his team to stay focused more on themselves and how they play the game rather than who they are playing.

“Our players have grown pretty tired of hearing me say the same thing every single day,” Holliday said of preparing for the opponents while appearing on Big 12 This Morning on SXM. “You are playing against the ball and playing against the challenge of the game. The other team is deciding to what level and emotion of fight back is going to be behind the ball. We need to get to where we play a faceless opponent to try to understand that the challenges of this game are to manage your own thoughts and manage your own game. Play the ball, play the pitch and don’t get caught up in who it is and what it is supposed to be about. I think that is hard to do for this generation because there is so much information out there on other players and other teams.”

The Stillwater Regional looks tough and despite the teams, their names or tradition, or lack of tradition,this regional has one distinction for sure.

The top two two-way players in college baseball will be here with Big 12 Tournament MVP Carson Benge and Florida Jac Caglianone both in Stillwater. Benge is hitting .342 with 17 home runs and 62 RBI. He is also 3-1 on the season pitching with a 2.25 ERA and he has 40 strike outs to just eight walks and only 20 hits in 32 innings. Caglianone is hitting .415 with 29 home runs and 58 RBI. On the mound he is 5-1 with a 4.35 ERA. He has struck out 68 opposing hitters and allowed only 49 hits in 62 innings pitched.

Those two are exceptional baseball players. So, what does the rest look like with No. 3 seed Florida opening with No. 2 Nebraska at 2 p.m. on Friday andtop seed Oklahoma State opening with No. 4 seed Niagara at 6 p.m. inside O’Brate Stadium.

No. 4 seed Niagara Purple Hawks (38-15) Champions of the Metra Atlantic Athletic Conference

Head Coach: Rob McCoy (16 seasons 299-458-3)

Team Stats: BA-.306, 2B-99, HR-69 ERA-5.40 Opp BA-.262

Niagara won the MAAC Tournament and finished 20-4 in conference play. They are 23-12 on the road which bodes well for the Purple Hawks. During the season they did not play major opponents or teams that made it into the NCAA. They split with James Madison in a midweek series in March, losing 2-1 and winning 8-5. They played one major opponent in Michigan State of the Big Ten and lost two-of-three games.

No. 2 seed Nebraska Cornhuskers (39-20) Champions of the Big Ten Conference

Head Coach: Will Bolt (5 seasons 136-95-1)

Team Stats: BA-.291, 2B-118, 7 3B, HR-65, ERA-4.46, Opp. BA-.245

Nebraska has a standout catcher in Josh Caron. As a team the Huskers were 16-8 in the Big Ten this season and won the Big Ten Postseason Tournament. They were 15-9 on the road, so they play well away from Hay Market Park.

The Huskers player a lot of Big 12 teams as they beat Baylor 4-1, lost to Texas Tech 6-3, and lost to Oklahoma 7-6 in a preseason tournament event. They also lost a pair to Kansas, 13-11 in Lawerence and a 9-4 loss in Lincoln. They beat Kansas State in Lincoln 8-0. In the Big Ten they beat fellow NCAA qualifier Indiana two-of-three games and then beat the Hoosiers twice in the Big Ten Tournament.

No. 3 seed Florida Gators (28-27) at large selection from the SEC

Head Coach: Kevin O’Sullivan (17 seasons 709-346)

Team Stats: BA-.272, 2B-95, HR-116, ERA-6.27, Opp. BA-.267

The Gators had a rough season, but they did it in the conference considered the most difficult and loaded in Division I, the SEC. The Gators lost out of conference to NCAA qualifiers St. John’s 9-5, lost to Stetson 7-4, and then in April beat Stetson 13-3. They lost three games to Florida State 12-8 and 14-3 in Gainesville. Then they lost to the Seminoles 19-4 in Tallahassee. They also lost to UCF on March 6.

In the SEC they won series two-games-to-one over Texas A&M, at LSU, and with Mississippi State. They lost series by the same margin to South Carolina, at Vanderbilt, at Arkansas, No. 1 overall seed Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Their best series win may have been on the road at Georgia. They also lost to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament in the opener. This is a dangerous team as they have talent beyond their near .500 record on the season.