The Daily O’Collegian

This season has been all about overcoming deficits for the Cowboy baseball team.

No. 11 OSU trailed in every game of its series against Baylor this past weekend only to come back and win all three.

With the sweep, the Cowboys (22-6, 5-1 Big 12) took over first place in the Big 12, but coach Frank Anderson said that doesn’t matter to the team.

“It doesn’t mean anything this time of year,” Anderson said. “You just gotta worry about going out and playing good baseball.”

The Cowboys lead the Big 12 in runs and hits per game and are batting a league-best .354, which senior catcher Ryan Flavell said is a big reason the team has been able to win so many games.

“I think we’re never down in any game,” Flavell said. “Our offense is just amazing. Whenever we’re down, we feel confident that we’re going to come back.”

Against Baylor, OSU set a team record for most hits in a Big 12 series with 48. The previous mark was 47 against Kansas in 1998.

The Cowboys have won both of their Big 12 series this season as well as their past eight and will look to extend that streak this weekend when they take on Nebraska.

In honor of Easter Sunday, the series was originally scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, but because of snow in Lincoln, OSU could not leave until Thursday, forcing the series to begin this afternoon at 2:05.

The series continues Saturday and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.

Anderson said he thinks the Cornhuskers (17-11, 3-6) will challenge the Cowboys.

“[Nebraska is] a tough place to play,” Anderson said. “We’re going to go in there and they’re going to have anywhere between six and 9,000 people there depending on the weather, and we really haven’t played in front of crowds like that.”

The Cowboy starters have struggled at times this season, but the offense and relievers have been able to keep OSU in every game. Nebraska is last in the league with a .282 batting average. Anderson said he thinks the pitching continues to improve.

“We just need to pitch better from the starting [pitch], and we’ve done all right with it,” Anderson said. “Our relief pitching is going to be the strong point of our pitching.

“Our relief pitching has been so good that sometimes we go to our relievers quicker than we normally would because they are really good.”

OSU has the second-lowest earned run average in the league at 3.45.

Although the Cowboys have had success using multiple relievers, Flavell said it can be challenging for him to work with so many different pitchers each game.

“Sometimes it’s a little tough, especially when they come in [to face] one batter, and the next guy comes in,” Flavell said. “But we called these guys all fall and now all spring, so I’m pretty comfortable with all these guys now, so it’s not too bad.”

The Cowboys won last year’s series against the Huskers in Stillwater, and Anderson said the team is looking forward to the rematch.

He said playing in front of large crowds will be a good experience for the Cowboys.

“It’s going to be fun,” Anderson said. “If you’ve never played in that situation, if you really are a tough-minded player and a good baseball player, you love to play in front of those situations.

“That’s probably the biggest thing that we have to look at.”