Cowboys Face Sketchy Future
By John Helsley
Follow on Twitter @jjhelsley
Before lunch on the second day of the Big 12 Tournament, OSU’s baseball season ended Thursday with a quick ushering from the event.
Two and Q, as they say, with the Q standing for BBQ.
And this team was cooked in so many ways.
An offense that never fully adjusted to the tamer bats.
A core of veterans who stumbled trying to show the way for the club’s young and promising players.
Bad luck robbed the Cowboys of two-thirds of their outfield and one-third of the rotation down the stretch, just as the team seemed to be finding some traction with a long winning streak and a Bedlam series win.
OSU ended the season without No. 2 pitcher Kyle Ottoson, who flashed his potential with a dominant win overOklahomain their non-conference clash, but was eventually shut down due to arm soreness. Also missing were center fielder Jarrett Higgins and left fielder Gabe Wiedenaar, the first injured and the latter wrecking his career by getting involved in drugs.
Already a thin squad, the Cowboys could hardly afford to play shorthanded.
And now their season is over, without a postseason for the second time in three years.
Next year looms critical for the program, as coach Frank Anderson and his staff will be feeling heat to produce.Andersonis finally free from the shackles of reduced scholarships brought by self-reported scholarship allotment mistakes made by the school’s previous administrative support staffs. And there are promising young players in place, including pitcher Jason Hursh, a potential ace who missed this season following Tommy John surgery.
Realistically, however, rising up won’t be easy.
Texasand Baylor are always going to be the favorites in the league, due to locale and premium facilities. And newcomer TCU, already stout, will benefit from its fresh appeal as a Big 12 school.
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