OSU Bullets

• Had fun writing this piece on Kollin Ritchie about him heading into this NCAA Regional after breakout during last season’s NCAA Regional. [PFB]

• Sad news — former OSU athletic director Terry Don Phillips passed away. [PFB]

“Terry Don’s vision for our athletic department inspired a new and greater belief in what we could be. He played a significant role in moving Oklahoma State Athletics forward and we will be forever grateful.” — Chad Weiberg

• The Cowgirl golf squad fell in the first round of match play at the NCAA Championships.

The start of something special in Stillwater 🧡

The Cowgirls’ historic season comes to a close in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals. We’ll be back and better soon!#golfschool | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/GoTn7zG5oa

— OSU Cowgirl Golf (@OSUcowgirlgolf) May 26, 2026

• And the Cowboys are headed that way (in style).

The defending champs are en route. See you soon, Carlsbad! #GoPokes | #golfschool pic.twitter.com/qmvGb2KGVG

— OSU Cowboy Golf (@OSUCowboyGolf) May 26, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• OKC gets it done in Game 5.

SGA fades away for two 👌

Create separation.
Step back.
Score.

He’s got 13 PTS as the Thunder lead by 9 in Q2 of Game 5! pic.twitter.com/sdjrTcAHWv

— NBA (@NBA) May 27, 2026

• The NCAA denied Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s reinstatement. There’s still plenty of legal mumbo jumbo to get through before we find out if he plays or not. [ESPN]

Phillips served as Oklahoma State’s AD from 1994 to 2002. He was hired in October of 1994 but got to OSU in August of ’95 after completing his second year of law school at Arkansas.

Some of his OSU legacy includes leading the way for a fund-raising campaign that resulted in Gallagher-Iba Arena being renovated, plans for updates to Lewis Field, the construction of Cowgirl Stadium and starting OSU’s equestrian program. Phillips hired Les Miles in 2001, which started to turn the fortunes of the football program.

“Terry Don’s vision for our athletic department inspired a new and greater belief in what we could be,” current OSU AD Chad Weiberg said. “He played a significant role in moving Oklahoma State Athletics forward and we will be forever grateful.”

Ten OSU student-athletes earned individual national titles under Phillips’ leadership — a tenure that also saw the men’s basketball team make the Final Four in 1995 and the Elite Eight in 2000 and the men’s golf team win national titles in 1995 and 2000.

Phillips was a football player at Arkansas in the 1960s and didn’t immediately get into the administrative side of things. He was a graduate assistant at Arkansas before being the defensive line coach and defensive front coordinator at Virginia Tech.

He got his first AD job at Liberty in 1980 before moving to Southwestern Louisiana in 1983. He returned to his alma mater as the senior associate AD in 1988 before taking the job in Stillwater.

He left Oklahoma State in 2002 for a job at Clemson. He’d spend 10 years running the athletic department at Clemson, where he promoted Dabo Swinney to the program’s coach, who would go on to lead the Tigers to a pair of national titles. Phillips retired in 2012.

“He had the vision to know what we needed to do before we did,” said OSU senior associate athletic director Larry Reece. “He showed us through the renovation of Gallagher-Iba Arena that we could do big things here. Terry Don is the reason we all wear orange. Before his arrival, we seem to wear every color but orange. His message was ‘next time I’ll wear orange.’”

STILLWATER — Kollin Ritchie had a solid sophomore season in 2025, but the end of it was a prelude of what was to come.

Ritchie stepped into the spotlight at the Athens Regional last season, hitting .538 with 10 RBIs, six runs scored and five home runs across four games, leading the Cowboys to the brink of a Super Regional appearance.

“It was good to finally get in some good positions and show myself that I can get in those positions a lot,” said Ritchie of last season’s Regional. “Helped the team out quite a bit late last year, so it kind of gave me some confidence going into this year that I can be one of those guys, especially last year we were gonna lose Shooby (Nolan Schubart). So, just being able to realize that I can help the team out and be a player like he can helped me out a little bit.”

“I think everybody kind of has that belief in themselves that they can be that guy, when they can help the team out in any way, but I guess definitely getting out there and doing it helps.”

A year removed from that breakout weekend, Ritchie will head to another SEC school for an NCAA Regional, as Oklahoma State will take part in the Tuscaloosa Regional with Alabama, USC-Upstate and Alabama State. But this year, Ritchie is already hanging out in the spotlight.

He is hitting .335 as a junior this season, leading the Cowboys in runs scored (75), home runs (29), RBIs (73) and slugging percentage (.828). That home run total is good for third nationally, while his runs scored tally is tied for eighth and his RBIs are tied for 13th.

“He’s uniquely strong — that’s real strong,” said Holliday back on May 1 after a game Ritchie went 4-for-4 with three home runs. “He was like that when he got here. He got like that his senior year of high school. He became a man two years before most kids. A lot of guys, by the time they’re sophomores, they start to get man strength. His senior year (of high school), he was man strong. …

“As time has gone on, he has gained a greater working knowledge of the art of hitting. He’s now become a two-sided hitter. He can hit both to the left and right, you saw that on display tonight. He’s also become a multispeed hitter. He can now hit both hard and soft pitches, and he’s learned how to be a focal point, meaning people are really trying to keep him from beating them and yet he’s still finding ways to not miss the pitch he gets. And he might only get one an at-bat. So, it’s a lot of things — it’s all of those things together.”

Holliday went and got Ritchie out of Atoka. For those unfamiliar with Oklahoma geography, that’s a town of about 3,000 in the southeast portion of the state. In his senior year as a Wampus Cat, a mascot that is a nod to Cherokee mythology, Ritchie hit .531 with 11 home runs and 47 RBIs.

When recalling Ritchie’s recruitment, Holliday noted that not a lot of people knew about him, but the attention started to tick up a bit late. The Baltimore Orioles ended up taking him in the 19th round of the 2023 MLB Draft, but Ritchie elected to stick with his college commitment.

He had a strong freshman season, playing in 53 games and making 37 starts in 2024. He hit .271 with seven home runs before taking a step forward during his sophomore season ahead of his big breakout at last year’s Athens Regional.

“If you go try to get that guy out of California, you’re gonna fight UCLA and USC for him,” said Holliday on April 3 after a game Ritchie hit a three-run home run in. “If you go try to get that guy out of Texas, you’re fight Texas and Texas A&M for him. If you go try to get him out of the south, you’re gonna fight the entire SEC for him. What I’m trying to say is when you try to get physically gifted players who can do something like boom, one pitch, boom, 440-foot home run, you either one, have to go get them, which they’re hard to get. Or, two, you have to build them, which means you better be patient, and nobody in the world even knows what the word patience is anymore.

“You get those guys when you can, right? Ritchie, he’s a find. That’s a 6-foot-1, 225-pound country strong, tough, powerful dude who is becoming a hell of a baseball player. But, it took a little time, and now we’re getting to enjoy watching, I think, a fabulous baseball player.”

Ritchie has started to creep up in an OSU record book that is tough to climb given some of the baseball giants who have played at Oklahoma State.

His 29 home runs this season tie for the fourth-most in a season in program history alongside Pete Incaviglia’s 1984 season. Ritchie is one homer away from tying Lamont Matthews (1999) and Monty Fariss (1988) for second all-time. He’s already six home runs ahead of any player Josh Holliday has coached in his 14 seasons leading the Cowboys.

“When you play baseball at OSU, to do anything that’s the most of anything, you gotta be pretty good because the dudes before us set a standard I’m not sure anyone will ever touch,” Holliday said. “Whether it’s what Pete did, or what Robin (Ventura) did, or what the guys on this wall did, or what many, many others did, that’s our history. We cherish it. So, we celebrate when somebody does something special.”

Oklahoma State’s season and Meylan’s career came to an end this weekend with the Cowgirls going 0-2 in the Lincoln Super Regional. Meylan, a two-time All-American in two seasons in Stillwater, will go down as an all-time Cowgirl.

She shared this message via her X account on Sunday:

“I don’t really know what to say other than thank you,” Meylan wrote. “Thank you to Oklahoma State University. Thank you to Coach G (Gajewski), Carrie (Eberle Parker), (Vanessa) Shippy and Bergy (Greg Bergeron). Thank you to my teammates. Thank you to our fans. Thank you to Stillwater.

“I could not be more thankful for my two years spent here. The best two years of my life. I made the most incredible memories, found my best friends, and met the love of my life. All while doing what I love.

“I’m overwhelmed with so much joy and so much sadness. I never wanted this career of mine to come to an end, but I can proudly say I gave this program everything I have. The tank is emptied.”

Despite being in orange and black for only two seasons after transferring from Washington, Meylan’s name is littered throughout the Cowgirl record book.

Here’s a look at some of the major lists she’s on.

Pitching Appearances (Season): T4th

Meylan stepped in the circle 45 times this past season, more than any Cowgirl since 2014 (Simone Freeman), meaning no Gajewksi Era pitcher has more appearances in a single season.

After making 43 appearances last season, Meylan joins Jessica Hoppock (2004 and 2006) and Kat Espinosa (2013 and 2011) as the only three Cowgirls with two seasons in the top 10 of OSU’s season pitching appearances list.

Pitching Wins (Season): 2nd

Meylan went 29-9 in 2026. The only OSU pitcher with more wins in a season was Melanie Roche (32) back in 1992.

That means this season saw Meylan win more games than all-time OSU arms Lexi Kilfoyl, Carrie Eberle, Lauren Bay, Michelle Smith, Sam Show and Kelly Maxwell ever did across one season.

Innings Pitched (Season): 6th

It was rare Gajewski would get out of a news conference this season without fielding a question of Meylan’s workload, and here’s why.

The 244 2/3 innings Meylan pitched this season are the most a Cowgirl has thrown in one campaign since Freeman threw 249 in 2014.

The 209 innings Meylan threw last season now rank 17th in program history. The next-closest Gajewski Era pitcher on that list is Show throwing 200 1/3 innings in 2019.

Winning Percentage (Career): 11th

Meylan finishes her OSU career with a record of 50-19. That .725 winning percentage ranks 11th all-time (among pitchers with at least 25 decisions) and puts her right among some of the all-time greats of the Gajewski Era:

1. Eberle (.878)
3. Kilfoyl (.808)
9. Maxwell (.763)
11. Meylan (.725)
14. Show (.688)

Strikeouts (Career): 10th

Again, only two seasons and Meylan is in the Top 10 in terms of career strikeouts.

She struck out 458 batters in her two years in orange, which is the second-most among Gajewski Era pitchers, trailing only Maxwell (746).

OSU Bullets

• The Cowboys are headed to the Tuscaloosa Regional alongside Alabama (duh), Alabama State and USC-Upstate. [PFB]

The Cowboys are headed to Tuscaloosa. pic.twitter.com/U0quVcFl8Q

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) May 25, 2026

• The Cowgirl Golf team is headed into Tuesday’s match play, where they’ll square off against Arkansas.

Took care of business!

For the first time since 2021, the Cowgirls are headed to match play at the NCAA Championship 🤠#golfschool | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/srwzG2tfMH

— OSU Cowgirl Golf (@OSUcowgirlgolf) May 26, 2026

• Tyler looked at the football schedule through the lens of betting odds. [PFB]

• Carson and Colby reacted to diamond sports postseasons and the ESPN article detailing Eric Morris’ rebuild. [PFB]

Non-OSU Bullets

• Finals basketball will be back in Madison Square Garden for the first time since the turn of the century. I, personally, hope the Thunder join the Knicks in the Finals.

NEW YORK STAND UP 🔥

THE KNICKS ARE BACK IN THE NBA FINALS FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ’99 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/tSL95djozl

— ESPN (@espn) May 26, 2026

• Arsenal won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. [ESPN]

Oklahoma State earned the 2 seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional, it was announced Monday. The Cowboys will open the tournament against USC-Upstate at 1 p.m. Friday, with those two teams joining Alabama and Alabama State in the Regional.

Let’s get to know the Regional participants.

Alabama

Record: 37-19
Conference (SEC) Regular Season Finish: 4
Team Batting Average: .253
Team ERA: 4.28

The Crimson Tide went one-and-done at the SEC Tournament, but they enter this Regional having not lost back-to-back games since April 24. Since, Alabama swept Vanderbilt and South Carolina before taking two of three off Ole Miss.

Alabama has three pitchers (Myles Upchurch, Zane Adams and Tyler Fay) who have thrown at least 64 innings this season and all have an ERA of 4.70 or better.

Neal Brady leads the way at the dish, hitting a team-best .328 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.

Oklahoma State

Record: 37-20
Conference (Big 12) Regular Season Finish: 5
Team Batting Average: .280
Team ERA: 6.24

Battling through various injuries around the diamond throughout the year, the Cowboys have been coming into their own of late. They’ve won 13 of their past 17 entering this regional.

The Cowboys clobber baseballs, entering the NCAA Tournament second nationally in home runs with 137. Kollin Ritchie is the star man in that aspect with 29 homers on the year, which puts him third nationally.

OSU leadoff man Alex Conover has also had a fantastic year, entering the Regional hitting a team-best .383 with 14 homers and 36 RBIs.

The Cowboys’ pitching staff has had its ups and downs this season — with some of that being the fault of the aforementioned injuries. How that group can piece together a weekend will be big for the Cowboys’ hopes of advancing to Supers.

USC-Upstate

Record: 33-28
Conference (Big South) Regular Season Finish: 5
Team Batting Average: .291
Team ERA: 5.89

Upstate finished fifth in the Big South before winning the conference tournament, shutting out top-seeded High Point in that process.

The Spartans have played some good teams close — even going so far to beat Clemson 6-3 earlier this month. They also have a 7-2 loss to Clemson on their resume along with a 4-2 loss to Tennessee, three losses to Texas and a loss to Georgia.

Driving in runs has been a group effort for Upstate this season, as five players have at least 50 RBIs.

Henry Zenor leads the squad with a .346 batting average to go along with eight homers and 51 RBIs. Wylie Waters and Johnny Sweeney are tied for the team lead with a dozen home runs apiece.

Alabama State

Record: 34-21
Conference (SWAC) Regular Season Finish: 4
Team Batting Average: .281
Team ERA: 6.05

The Hornets enter this tournament on an eight-game winning streak with their last loss coming on May 9.

Finishing 20-10 in SWAC play earned Alabama State the 4 seed in the conference tournament, where the Hornets went on a run of four straight wins to book a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Alabama State has played host to Alabama twice this season, losing 2-1 in February and 13-4 in March.

Miguel Oropeza leads the way for the squad at the plate. Having started all 55 of Alabama State’s games this season, Oropeza is hitting .366 with 78 hits, 19 doubles, 11 homers and 65 RBIs.

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It feels like genuine optimism surrounds the football program headed into the summer months. Of course that should be the minimum expectation when change is made at the top, especially considering Oklahoma State’s struggles in football during the last two seasons.

FanDuel Sports has something of a mixed message for OSU fans given the odds listed online.

The Sportsbook has the Cowboys win total wager set to 5.5 wins this fall with the OVER listed as a decent favorite (-178, as in it would cost $178 to make $100 profit). That is partly influenced by the Pokes’ first home opponent of the season, Oregon, which is favored to win in Stillwater by 17.5 points.

Of course, considering FanDuel has Oregon fifth overall in national championships odds (+800, as in a $100 bet would pay out $800), it’s hard to view that line as being super disrespectful.

The sportsbook has the Cowboys ninth to win the Big 12 (+2,500), behind favorites Texas Tech, of course (+110). That placement and the odds say a lot about what the sportsbook thinks of OSU as a dark horse candidate likely to attract bettors.

Tenth-place Kansas sits at +3,000 and five teams have odds of +4,000 or longer, culminating in the conference’s longest of longshots Cincinnati and Colorado which boast odds of +10,000.

Avoiding the Big 12’s basement for the third-consecutive season would be a nice change of pace for the Pokes. To that end, the sportsbook has the Cowboys facing the conference’s 11th toughest strength of schedule based on win totals.

Oklahoma State’s nine conference opponents win totals add up to 59.5. For context, the easiest possible schedule in the league would add up to 50.5 while the toughest would equal 70.5.

Here’s a look at Oklahoma State’s week-by-week Big 12 schedule in 2026 with win totals included for context:
Sept. 26 at West Virginia (5.5)
BYE
Oct. 10 vs UCF (5.5)
Oct. 17 at Houston (7.5)
Oct. 24 vs Colorado (4.5)
Oct. 31 at Iowa State (5.5)
Nov. 7 at Kansas State (8.5)
Nov. 14 vs Texas Tech (10.5)
Nov. 21 at Arizona State (6.5)
Nov. 28 vs Kansas (5.5)

If the Cowboys are going to make some noise in the conference and push for a bowl game, they probably need to win at least three of their first five Big 12 games, though the schedule seems well set up to start the conference slate 4-1 with an overall record of 6-2 should Oklahoma State get a favorable bounce and start hot under the new coaches.

Road trips to Kansas State and recent Big 12 champion Arizona State sandwich a home date against the conference’s heavy favorite in Texas Tech. It’s a low bar to clear, but that game should be much more competitive than last year’s blowout in Lubbock.

Regardless of how things go in that difficult stretch, Oklahoma State has a great chance to wrap up the regular season on a high note with a home game against the Jalon Daniels-less Jayhawks, who happen to be one of the conference’s softer 5.5-win teams according to FanDuel.

Coach Eric Morris proved just last year that he’s more than capable of shocking the nation by exceeding modest expectations. So it’s possible Oklahoma State could far shatter this win total and record a few all-time signature wins in 2026, not to mention beat Kansas.

Still, given everything the program has been through in the last two seasons, the mood around town would be much better if Oklahoma State could secure bowl eligibility before setting out on that final four-game stretch.

Big 12 win totals (strength of Big 12 schedule):
10.5 wins: Texas Tech (15th, they can’t play themselves so that makes some sense)
8.5 wins: Utah (15th); BYU (T13th); Kansas State (16th, easiest draw)
7.5 wins: Houston (T9th); Arizona (3rd)
6.5 wins: TCU (1st, tied for hardest draw); Arizona State (T5th); Baylor (T9th)
5.5 wins: Oklahoma State (11th); UCF (T13th); West Virginia (T5th); Kansas (T7th); Iowa State (T7th); Cincinnati (1st, tied for hardest draw)
4.5 wins: Colorado (4th)

OSU Bullets

• After OSU’s season ended, ace Ruby Meylan sent out this message to Cowgirls Nation. 

🧡 @cowgirlsb @theAUSLofficial pic.twitter.com/kLL4Rohe7y

— Ruby Meylan (@rubymeylan) May 24, 2026

• Kenny G on two of his other stars.

Tony Lindsay took the reigns as QB for @CowboyFB as a freshman in 1997 showcasing his athleticism. He led the Pokes to their first 6-0 start in 52 yrs including a win over Texas that is still one of the most exciting in program history and the first bowl game since 1988 #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/QtXWAH2dB1

— Dustin J (@405pokefan) May 24, 2026

• The Cowboys are projected as 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament by multiple outlets. It’s quite the accomplishment that involved OSU to finish the regular season on a 19-8 run. The selection show kicks off Monday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.  

• Nearly 30 years ago, and I feel so old. 

Tony Lindsay took the reigns as QB for @CowboyFB as a freshman in 1997 showcasing his athleticism. He led the Pokes to their first 6-0 start in 52 yrs including a win over Texas that is still one of the most exciting in program history and the first bowl game since 1988 #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/QtXWAH2dB1

— Dustin J (@405pokefan) May 24, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• On how the Thunder have become the most hated team in hoops. [Vox]

• Earth is weird. 

JOHNNY MANZIEL JUST FINISHED BOB MENERY IN ROUND 1 😭 #BrandRisk14 pic.twitter.com/cq9DtK8C9T

— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 24, 2026

OSU Bullets

•  Ruby Meylan saw pitches get knocked around the field yesterday, while the Cowgirls saw a great season end with a 9-1 loss to a quality Huskers team (PFB)

• Steve Lutz filled a hole in the middle of his lineup with a solid, in-conference transfer yesterday – a 6’9″ forward with a penchant for scoring (PFB)

• Eric Morris added what appears to be a really solid in-state defensive back yesterday – check out this offer list Broken Arrow player Bryson Brown had:

(Brown) picked OSU over offers from Arkansas, Kansas, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and others. [PFB]

• The Pokes lost to the eventual Big 12 champ on Friday – but it was closer than the score showed it to be:

Don’t let the final score of this game fool you, for the first six innings, this was just a two-run game with Kansas leading 3-1. But in the eighth inning, that’s where things started to turn quite a bit.

Oklahoma State put a run on the board at the top of that inning to pull within one. However, the Cowboys would need much more than that because the Jayhawks went on a scoring spree. [HCS]

• Cowboys are still projected as two-seed after losing in the Big 12 semifinals:

#OkState still projected as a 2-seed in Florida State’s regional, per @d1baseball’s latest projections. The super regional pairing might be more noteworthy. https://t.co/sIoft0ffTb pic.twitter.com/g3Ans2fYuc

— Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 23, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• The African lake turning animals into stone • Stop keeping score (faith-based) Thunder blue glasses are stuck on my face but this was so nice to hear:

Chuck has had enough with this Wemby narrative 😆 pic.twitter.com/Lh1yIBlVsk

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 24, 2026

Unfortunately for the Cowgirls that will officially mark her goodbye to the program following the team’s 9-1 loss in five innings to Nebraska in the Lincoln Super Regionals.

She left the circle in the middle of the fifth inning after the Cornhuskers loaded the bases following a home run which gave Nebraska what was then a 3-1 lead. Oklahoma State had two outs at the time and had given up a solo homer followed by two hits and one walk before Oklahoma State pulled its ace.

Meylan’s final entry for the Cowgirls was hardly reflective of her tenure as she gave up seven hits, six earned runs and two walks while striking out two of 24 batters faced.

RyLee Crandall replaced Meylan. She hit the first batter, then gave up a 2-RBI single before giving up a home run which put the game in run-rule territory.

Senior Audrey Schneidmiller recorded her lone hit in the bottom of the inning to give OSU some hope, but Nebraska pitcher Jordy Frahm (formerly Bahl) struck out Aubrey Jones and Karli Godwin to end the game.

Rosie Davis scored Oklahoma State’s lone run of the game in the first inning after an RBI single from senior Lexi McDonald. Fellow senior Amanda Hasler was responsible for the Cowgirls only other hit in a game that saw Nebraska record nine strikeouts.

Speaking of which, Meylan started the game with her 800th career strikeout, a mark that would rank third-all-time among Cowgirls if they all came during her Oklahoma State career. Still, in two seasons Meylan struck out 389 batters to rank 13th all-time in program history.

Meylan ended her career with 392 innings pitched for the Cowgirls which would rank 16th in program history.

Broken Arrow defensive back Bryson “BB” Brown announced his commitment to Oklahoma State on Saturday. He joins Pryor receiver Cooper Hooker as in-state pledges to pick the Pokes this week, and both join Iowa Colony (TX) quarterback Carson White as the Cowboys’ three commitments.

Listed at 6-feet, 186 pounds, Brown is the No. 731 player in the Rivals Industry ranking, which tabs him as the No. 80 safety in the 2027 class and the No. 13 player from the state of Oklahoma. He picked OSU over offers from Arkansas, Kansas, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State and others.

MaxPreps had stats for eight of Brown’s games during his junior season, where he had 31 tackles and a tackle for loss playing at a more traditional safety spot and some work at nickel.

Brown will also bring track speed with him to Stillwater. Athletic.net credited Brown with a 10.90 100 meters at his regional track meet earlier this month, and he has a 10.8 time on his X profile.

The OSU staff prioritized Brown early. Eric Morris was posing for a photo with Brown at his school on Jan. 21, not too long after Morris got the job. Brown announced in early March will take an official visit to Stillwater from June 4 to June 6. Two days after he made that announcement, he was posing with OSU defensive backs coaches Jordan Malone and Julian Wilson for a photo. Then earlier this week Malone, Wilson and defensive coordinator Skyler Cassity visited Brown at his home.

So, the Cowboys’ class sits at three, but will only continue to grow over the coming months as official visits get rolling. The Cowboys’ staff seems to be after another Broken Arrow DB in Noah Gillespie, who this week also shared a photo of Cassity, Wilson and Malone visiting him. On top of that, four-star athlete Hunter Haug included OSU in his Top 5 earlier this week.

The Cowboys have added a second transfer from within in the Big 12.

UCF transfer forward Jordan Burks announced his commitment to Oklahoma State on Saturday. Listed at 6-foot-9, 205 pounds, Burks played at UCF this past season, where he averaged 13.3 points and 4.8 boards a game while shooting 37% from 3 on nearly five attempts a contest. He joins Andrija Grbovic (Arizona State) as Big 12 transfers.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jordan Burks (JB) (@jbxrks)

“Jordan gives us another experienced, versatile piece with size, athleticism and scoring ability,” Steve Lutz said in OSU’s release. “He can play multiple spots, stretch the floor and make shots in big moments. You can see the growth in his game from year to year, and we’re excited about the way he fits with how we want to play.”

247Sporst considers Burks the No. 85 player in the portal and a four-star portal prospect.

Burks started his college career at Kentucky, appearing in 20 games as a freshman where he averaged 1.9 points and 1.7 boards in about seven minutes a game.

Then he spent the 2024-25 season at Georgetown alongside fellow OSU portal commit Julius Halaifonua, though Halaifonua was injured most of that year. With the Hoyas, Burks played in 34 games, making 11 starts, where he averaged 5.7 points and 3.4 boards a game before getting more shots in Orlando this past season.

He scored in double figures 23 times this past season. He scored a season-high 24 against BYU in February, a game he went 4-for-7 from 3 in. That was one of five 20-point performances Burks had this past season.

The analytics like what Burks brings on the offensive end of the floor in particular. His Offensive Rating/Possession Usage (tracked via KenPom) ranks in the top 320 players nationally, a stat he ranked fifth in Big East play in during his year with the Hoyas.

From Decatur, Alabama, Burks was a three-star prospect coming out of the Overtime Elite league, but his recruitment took a sharp upturn late. He had initially signed with Ole Miss before a coaching change saw him reopen his recruitment. Kentucky then scooped him up in the summer going into his freshman year of college.

Burks becomes the sixth portal pickup Steve Lutz and Co. have made this offseason, and he fills OSU’s second-to-last roster spot. Thus far, the Cowboys’ portal haul is Burks, 6-6 combo guard Luke Bogavac (North Carolina), C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Kashie Natt (Sam Houston), promising young point guard Jacob Walker (Sam Houston) and stretch forward Andrija Grbovic (Arizona State).

Three Thoughts

• Tough loss for the Cowgirls, dropping 8-1 to the host Nebraska squad – Cowgirls have to win back-to-back to advance to the college world series (PFB)

• In a similar spot, the Pokes lost in the semifinals of the Big 12 baseball tournament, 9-2 against the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks (OKState.com)

• CBS picked the Pokes in the middle of the Big 12 this fall with one key phrase: 

 The Cowboys finished in the Big 12 basement last season, and jumping eight spots may not even be enough…The Cowboys were also aggressive in the transfer portal, adding numerous linemen with Power Four pedigree. [CBS Sports]

Two Quotes

• Spencer Sanders’ DC Defenders squad dropped a close one last night> 

AIRING IT OUT 🎯

Sanders ➡️ Coutee 🔥 pic.twitter.com/oE80m4adNW

— DC Defenders (@UFLDefenders) May 23, 2026

• Cowgirls are in shooting distance at the golf championships through day one: 

Strong start for the Cowgirls 💪

OSU grabs a podium spot after the NCAA Championship’s opening 18 holes. Back to work tomorrow ‼#golfschool | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/7OsHRPLGnO

— OSU Cowgirl Golf (@OSUcowgirlgolf) May 23, 2026

One Question

• What’s more likely to happen – do the Cowboys make it to a super regional or do the Cowgirls get to the WCWS?

Non-OSU Bullets

• Extravagant football recruiting trips may be ending • Great Thunder v. Spurs article from The Ringer before last night’s game

Plan your future in detail. Imagine it. Break it into goals. Make them tangible. Write them out. Now, pick the 3 most important goals and break them into timelines: 10 years, 1 year, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day. Every night, look at what progress you made toward these 3 goals and write down the one thing you can do tomorrow to make progress toward each. Repeat. Goals set direction, but only execution moves you closer. [FS]

Nebraska won the first game 8-1 on Friday in a game that felt mostly decided after three innings.

The Cornhuskers roughed up Ruby Meylan, scoring three runs in the first and another four in the third before she was pulled. She didn’t get an out in that third, meaning her final line was two innings pitched where she gave up seven runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out two.

The game resumed in the bottom of the first inning with a runner on first. A single on the restart put two on before Jesse Farrell sent a three-run home run to left-center.

Even in the second where the Cowgirls didn’t allow a run, Meylan got in some trouble, giving up back-to-back singles to start the frame before getting out of the jam with three straight outs.

She had no such Houdini act in the third. She issued a walk before Ava Kuszak doubled, putting two runners in scoring position for Farrell, who sent the first pitch of her at-bat back up the middle to score both. Another Nebraska double ended Meylan’s day, as RyLee Crandall came in and forced two RBI groundouts and a fly out to finally end the inning. It was 7-0, Nebraska.

The bright spot about this getting a bit out of hand early was that the Cowgirls could sit Meylan, who they’ll need in Game 2 if they want to fight back.

With Meylan in the dugout, OSU gave Nebraska all sorts of looks. Crandall threw two scoreless innings (the RBI groundouts went on Meylan’s stat line). Then freshman Makala Smith made her collegiate debut, throwing 1 1/3 where she gave up a run on four hits while walking two. Then freshman Preslee Downing came in and got the final two outs.

The Cowgirls scored their run in the sixth when Karli Godwin hit a solo home run to the left. Godwin is on a hot streak, having homered in four of her past six games.

HR No. 🔟 on the year for Karli 🚀

📺 ESPN2 #GoPokes | @karligodwin2 https://t.co/vbX8gaFFXI pic.twitter.com/9VcsWgRwkX

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 22, 2026

So, it’s do or die for the Cowgirls on Saturday. Game 2 of the series will get rolling at 4 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2. With Game 1 getting pushed from Thursday to Friday, there aren’t yet details available on a would-be Game 3.

The past week has seen an in-state receiver commit to OSU, an in-state linebacker announce an OSU offer and an in-state defensive back set a commitment date. Well, now OSU is in the top group for a touted prospect from the Lone Star State, and the Cowboys’ staff is in pursuit of another in-state DB.

OSU in Top 5 for Four-Star Athlete Hunter Haug

Hunter Haug is the No. 217 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking for the 2027 class, and he released a Top 5 on Thursday: Oklahoma State, Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and Arkansas.

#agtg #gofrogs #WOOPIG #GoPokes #WreckEm #SicEm@CoachTreW @AAFrogDC @RSilverfield @CoachCWilford @RSilverfield @CoachMalone18 @CoachSkyCassity @__CoachMorris @CoachRGreene @jkbtjc_53 @JoeyMcGuireTTU @CoachKlanderman @CoachOrloffBU @Rivals @247recruiting @SV_RangerFB pic.twitter.com/7xSqXMNDlo

— ℋ𝓊𝓃𝓉ℯ𝓇 ℋ𝒶𝓊ℊ (@HunterHaug05) May 21, 2026

Listed at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, Haug is out of Smithson Valley High in Spring Branch, Texas (northeast of San Antonio). As a junior, he accumulated 1,156 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns while making 57 tackles, seven pass breakups and a pick as a defensive back.

Smithson Valley went 15-1 on the year, winning a Texas 5A-1 state title.

OSU has been active with Haug since Eric Morris got to town.

Haug announced his OSU offer back on Jan. 30, accompanying that offer announcement with a picture of him and Morris at his school. Haug was up at OSU’s Junior Day in March, and at the beginning of this month, OSU DC Skyler Cassity and DBs coach Jordan Malone went down to visit Haug in his home. According to 247Sports, Haug will be in Stillwater for an official visit on June 9.

Haug has speed. Last month at his area track meet, Haug ran a 10.65 100 meters. Back in February, he also recorded a 21-foot, 3-inch long jump.

In-State DB Noah Gillespie Receives Home Visit

Broken Arrow defensive back Noah Gillespie shared a photo to social media on Wednesday with Cassity, Malone and corners coach Julian Wilson all visiting Gillespie at his home.

Great Home Visit Last Night ‼️ @JWilson_2 @CoachSkyCassity @CoachMalone18 @__CoachMorris @CowboyFB @THillBAFootball @TheCoachJoShow @CoachReed_ @coachtwin_84 @VYPEOK @OSUAthletics @OKStateRivals @PokeOkc @6starfootballOK pic.twitter.com/TWRl7dVTzr

— I_amNoah (@amnoah_i) May 20, 2026

Listed at 5-11, 180, Gillespie is the No. 737 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking, which tabs him as the No. 72 corner in the class and a Top 15 player from the state of Oklahoma.

MaxPreps only had stats for seven of Gillespie’s games from 2025, but in that stretch, he made 31 tackles, a tackle for loss and two interceptions.

Gillespie ran a 10.89 100 meters in April, according to Athletic.net.

OSU offered Gillespie in February, and he attended a Junior Day in March. He has an official visit scheduled in Stillwater for the end of the month.

Gillespie also has offers to Kansas State, UCLA, Arizona, TCU, Auburn, Iowa State and others.

PFB+ Sale: ⁠PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link

OSU Bullets

• Cowgirl Softball saw game one postponed in Nebraska until today due to weather – the Cowgirls will have their hands full with the top-ranked Cornhuskers (PFB + HCS)

• The Pokes advanced to the Big 12 seminfianls after beating UCF yesterday, 12-6 (PFB)

• Eric Morris added a commitment yesterday from an in-state receiver that plays undersized in the slot – sound familiar? (PFB)

• The Cowboys draw top-seeded Kansas at 4pm today in the Big 12 tournament (Big12Sports)

•  99 days and counting:

100 DAYS UNTIL COLLEGE FOOTBALL RETURNS🍿 pic.twitter.com/nrGIFTPsk3

— On3 (@On3) May 21, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Strangers rent my house – is it worth it?

• Developing a taste for God’s Word (faith-based)

A rainy night in Lincoln meant the teams only managed to get four outs into the Super between Oklahoma State and Nebraska. The game is tied at 0. The weather delay lasted about two hours before they called it.

The game will resume at 4 p.m. Friday and be televised on ESPN2. They will not play another game Friday, as Game 2 will now take place at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Oklahoma State beat UCF 12-6 on Thursday in the quarterfinal of the Big 12 Tournament. The Cowboys advance to play the winner of Baylor and Kansas at 6:30 p.m. (Central) on Friday.

Thursday’s game was a back-and-forth affair until the Cowboys busted things open late.

Tied at 5 going into the eighth, the Cowboys rattled off five runs in the top of the inning with some plate discipline and some timely hitting.

With runners on second and third and one out, the Knights elected to intentionally walk superstar slugger Kollin Ritchie to load the bases. Then Aidan Meola drew a seven-pitch walk to score a run before Campbell Smithwick lifted a ball to right-center, with the sacrifice fly making it 7-5.

Avery Ortiz then drew a walk to load the bases before Colin Brueggemann thumped a ball into right center that clear them and make it 10-5.

Bruegge delivers

A 3-RBI 1B… and another milestone#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/39FuZVCL1C

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 21, 2026

The Knights clawed one back in the bottom of the inning, but then the Cowboys added two more in the top of the ninth.

The first run of the final inning came off Alex Conover’s bat, as he tripled to right. It scored freshman Danny Wallace, who was hit by a pitch to start the frame.

Doing what he does@AlexConover36 with an RBI 3B to add to our lead in the 9th#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/M8Sf4drSvO

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 21, 2026

The Cowboys used a heady play to get their final run across. After another hit-by-pitch and back-to-back strikeouts left Conover on third, OSU used a delayed steal to get Brock Thompson caught in a rundown between first and second while Conover scurried in from third.

Things got a little dicey for the Pokes in the home half of the inning, as Noah Wech loaded the bases with no outs. But after a mound visit to clear his head, Wech forced an infield pop up and then a double-play ball to secure the win.

OSU is a team known for its power. The Cowboys entered Thursday second nationally in home runs with 137. Well, the Pokes scored a dozen runs Thursday without a homer. That’s a good sign.

Another solid sign, though it might not exactly sound like it, is that the Cowboys scored 12 runs with Ritchie and Meola, two of their better hitters, combining to go 1-for-8 at the dish. The duo did, though, draw a pair of walks and accounted for an RBI and three runs scored. So, even without those two mashing baseballs out of the park, the Cowboy offense was productive.

Brueggemann probably gets the Player of the Game nod. The Cowboys’ senior fist baseman went 2-for-3 at the dish with four RBIs and a run scored. Conover, Thompson, Ortiz and Shull joined Brueggemann as Cowboys with multiple hits.

Pitching is important all the time but especially in a tournament setting where you want as many fresh arms as possible. The Cowboys used three hurlers Thursday, starting with Hudson Barrett.

Barrett was in the rotation at the start of the season but after missing time with injury, he had been coming out of the bullpen. He threw five innings against the Knights, giving up five runs (only one earned thanks to a fifth-inning error) on five hits while walking one, hitting another and striking out four.

Barrett made way for Mario Pesca in the sixth. Pesca would get the win to move to 6-4 on the year after throwing three innings where he gave up a run on three hits while walking one and striking out four before Wech closed in that ninth inning.

Pryor wide receiver Cooper Hooker announced a commitment to Oklahoma State on Thursday. Listed at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, Hooker picked the Pokes over offers from Texas State, Arkansas State, East Carolina and others.

 

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A post shared by Cooper Hooker (@coophook1)

Hooker will play his senior season at Pryor after starring at Salina. He caught 50 passes for 850 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior while scoring 22 total touchdowns and leading Salina to a 10-2 record and the second round of the 2A-II playoffs. That came after Hooker missed his sophomore year with a leg injury.

His breakout on the recruiting trail seems to have been an Under Armour camp in St. Louis in March. There, he ran a 4.44 40-yard dash and clocked a 4.38 shuttle.

40 , drill work , 1o1s from UA Camp ‼️

4.44 laser 40@derekrasmussen @TheUCReport @Bdrumm_Rivals @samspiegs@DemetricDWarren @coach_hadac @UANextFootball @FriedmanAdamm @ParkerThune @JimNagy_Sooners @Sooner7v7 @CoachDavisWR@CoachTMcKnight @CoachSJordan @CoachGMcDonald… pic.twitter.com/zBj2a4BWI4

— Cooper Hooker 3⭐️ (@coophook1) March 29, 2026

OSU moved quickly. Hooker announced his OSU offer on May 11, set up an official visit on May 13 (the visit is the 29th through 31st) and then pledged to the Pokes all in quick order.

The major recruiting services recently ranked Hooker. Rivals considers him the No. 1,059 player in the 2027 class, a Top 150 receiver in the class and a Top 20 player from the state of Oklahoma. 247Sports tabs him as the No. 180 receiver in the class and a Top 20 player in the state.

Morris has mentioned he likes multisport athletes, which is something that also applies to Hooker. He was a switch-hitting shortstop for Salina as a junior, where he hit .467 with five homers.

Hooker becomes the second pledge in Oklahoma State’s 2027 class, joining quarterback Carson White.

“That’s going to be our last game at Cowgirl Stadium for the year, and my last game there ever,” Hasler said. “I’m just now realizing, which is crazy to think about. I think it’s just so awesome that I get to have that memory of that being my last game there.”

If those walls could talk, they’d say Hasler left quite the lasting impression. In the series-clinching win over Stanford on Sunday, she finished 3-for-4 at the plate, including both a double and home run in addition to three RBIs and three runs scored.

It was an impressive weekend overall for Hasler, who averaged .777 across all three regional games, headlined by a team-high seven hits, team-high six RBIs, five runs and two home runs.

On Thursday night at 8, Hasler will take part in the first Super Regional of her career at Nebraska.

“I have no words,” Hasler said. “Like, it’s freaking awesome, and it’s something I’ve dreamt of as a kid.”

Before she arrived in Stillwater ahead of the 2025 season, Hasler played for NC State, where she missed the postseason entirely. The Wolfpack didn’t even qualify for the ACC Tournament during her two seasons there.

Then her first taste of the postseason last year saw the Cowgirls go on the road for the first time since 2018, where they ended their season short of the Women’s College World Series, marking another first since 2018.

“Losing the way that we did, it, it hurt,” Hasler said. “And I think with this year being able to host and being able to go to Super Regionals, like I get to feel this amongst everyone, like amongst everyone who’s been to the World Series, and who’s been there, and you know, I just was grateful I get to (keep playing in the Supers).”

Her father, Jim Hasler, echoed that feeling of gratitude.

“It gives me a lot of joy just because I see how happy it makes her,” he said. “And you know I just enjoy the hell out of watching her so much. … To see her on a stage at this level, just, it just makes me smile every time I see it. And it’s gonna really hurt when the season’s over.”

Hasler’s batting average of .318 this season currently ranks sixth on the team among season-long starters, but her 64 RBIs put her 16 ahead of her closest teammate. The senior also boasts a program-best .695 slugging percentage (among season-long starters), designed to calculate the impact of power hitters.

Hasler is one home run short of tying team leader Rosie Davis at 15 this season and two doubles short of Davis’ total at 12. She has tied Claire Timm at three triples each.

None of which should be a surprise considering Hasler led the team in home runs last season with 16, putting her seven ahead of her closest teammate. She also finished just two hits shy of having the third-best batting average on the team.

But for all her success in the last two years, Hasler struggled at first. After recording a home run in her OSU debut against Florida State, the then-junior went cold. Her first multi-hit game occurred almost one month into the 2025 season.

“I would compare myself to a lot of people,” Hasler said, describing her early Cowgirl career prior to the 2026 season. “And you know, I kind of had imposter syndrome during last season, and it was kind of tough because I’m coming from a, I guess, lower Power Four school into a top 25 school.

“And you know, I was still trying to find my place last season. And I think once I stopped caring, that’s when those numbers came to me.”

Down the stretch, she picked up the pace, culminating in a pair of home runs against UCF that accounted for all four of OSU’s RBIs in the 4-3 win on April 19, 2025.

From a pure softball standpoint, that was her father’s favorite game, but his favorite memories of her time in Stillwater don’t involve a bat or her catcher’s mitt. Just watching his kid gain confidence and have so much fun is enough for him. Although Hasler’s dad has also really enjoyed watching his daughter sign stuff for the kids who show up to Cowgirl Stadium.

“At that moment, those kids are, you know, they’re kind of in awe of these softball players,” he said. “And you know, to see your daughter be one of them, that just, it just makes me smile.”

Jim said his daughter plans to attend culinary school when her softball career ends. She would like to be a pastry chef, but both father and daughter hope there’s plenty of memories left to make this season.

“To be able to do it with these girls who I have bonded with over the course of this whole year, it’s awesome,” Hasler said, reflecting on her remaining postseason opportunities. “Like I have no other words, and you know, I’m just, I’m so grateful I get to make memories with these girls, and even off the field, like I get to hang out with them even more now that our season is still going. Like I get to hang out with them for at least another week, and I think that’s what helps me cherish this so much, is that we’re such a tight-knit team, it just makes it that much better.”

OSU Bullets

• The Cowboys are headed to the NCAA Tournament in golf later this month after finishing second at the Marana Regional yesterday (X)

• The Big 12 had a bit of a quarterback refresh this year – but OSU’s Drew Mestemaker is certainly in the top-tier (PFB)

2026 Preseason Big 12 QB Rankings:

1. Drew Mestemaker 2. Bear Bachmeier 3. Devon Dampier 4. Noah Fifita 5. Conner Weigman 6. Julian Lewis 7. Cutter Boley 8. DJ Lagway 9. Will Hammond* 10. JC French IV 11. Jaden Craig 12. Avery Johnson 13. Alonza Barnett III 14. Michael Hawkins… pic.twitter.com/AivmAcBYf6 — SleeperCFB (@SleeperCFB) May 20, 2026

• The Pokes have their first game in the Big 12 baseball tournament this morning, some are projecting the Pokes to win the thing:

Give me the Oklahoma State Cowboys to win it all. The Cowboys are one of the hottest teams in the Big 12 right now, having won 12 out of their last 15 games. After a shaky start to the season, they caught fire quickly and have played their way into being a solid two seed when the postseason comes around. [HCS]

• Don’t sleep on the Cowboys’ most recent addition at 174 pounds – he could compete for a starting spot with significant potential:

“I think this is a difference-making addition for Oklahoma State… I think he could be a national champion at 174.” @CPyles8 loves the Lorenzo Norman pickup for the Cowboys#FRL presented by @AthletePS pic.twitter.com/xFBRcbcQSc

— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) May 19, 2026

• It appears the Cowgirls will have at least one advantage over Nebraska when they play in softball today – here are three storylines going into the game:

Super Regional teams ranked by average height of the players.

Fun fact: Oklahoma’s average height last year was also 68.05 pic.twitter.com/EwcEjDUqwa — Unusual Softball (@UnusualSoftball) May 18, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• America’s fastest-growing cities are (far out) suburbs • Spaghetti again? (faith-based)

“Often we fail to improve our lives simply because things don’t get bad enough. If your new job is hell, you’ll leave it, but if it’s just unsatisfying, you’ll likely grind it out. Thus, small problems often threaten our quality of life more than big ones.” Gurwinder Bhogal

Oklahoma State will be in Lincoln taking on Nebraska in an NCAA Super Regional. The action gets started at 8 p.m. Thursday night on ESPN2.

Nebraska is 49-6 this season and rolled through the Big Ten, going 23-1 in conference games. With the Big Ten not being a softball power, the Cornhuskers were given the 4 seed nationally, but they rank as the nation’s No. 1 team in various polls, something OSU coach Kenny Gajewski agrees with.

“We’re getting to face another great team,” said Gajewski after OSU’s Regional. “I voted them No. 1 the last couple weeks — I think they are that. They’ve been doing everything that they’ve been asked. They’ve played as tough a schedule as anybody. I know (the Big Ten) might not be the highest-rated league, but like, they walked through that league. And they played the schedule in the beginning, and they came here when they didn’t have to. They’ve done things and played well, and their staff is another great staff. I can’t wait to go compete there. I saw their games on TV, and ah man, the crowds look awesome. It’s gonna be fun. Our girls will relish that. We can’t wait.”

Here are three storylines to keep in mind as the Super Regional round gets going.

1. Ruby Returns Home, Enters Elite Pitching Matchup

Two Nebraska girls will step into the circle in Lincoln this week, but only one will advance to Oklahoma City.

Newly minted three-time All-American Ruby Meylan attended Skutt Catholic in Omaha.  A two-time national champ at OU, Jordy Frahm (formerly Bahl) is out of Papillion-La Vista. Here’s how the two statistically match up this season:

2. The Series Is Already Even

The Super Regional round is a best-of-three series, but from a season perspective, we’ll find out who wins in a five-game series.

Nebraska came to Stillwater back in February as part of a multi-team event that also saw the Cowgirls host Southeast Missouri and South Dakota State.

The Cowgirls won the first of those games via an 11th-inning walk-off home run from Rosie Davis. If you need more evidence of how elite the pitching will be this weekend, that game went 11 innings and ended 2-1.

ROSIE DAVIS WALK OFF WINNER🤠 https://t.co/LWIetGB7Pk pic.twitter.com/pOyhHdJ7T2

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) February 27, 2026

Two days later, the teams met again. This time Nebraska pulled out a 4-3 win, with Frahm — also a hitter — pulling out a two-RBI single in the sixth to pull the Cornhuskers ahead.

They were supposed to meet again the next day, but weather meant Nebraska had to head up to Lincoln early. Now the score will be settled with a trip to OKC on the line.

3. Can OSU Get Back to OKC?

Speaking of OKC, the Cowgirls didn’t make it to softball’s biggest tournament for the first time since 2018 last season, snapping a five-season streak (the WCWS didn’t happen in 2020).

It was the longest WCWS streak in program history, as before the Gajewski Era, the Cowgirls had only ever made back-to-back seasons in Oklahoma City.

The Big 12 has gone through quite the quarterback refresh entering 2026 with a little more than half the league handing its offense’s reigns over to a new passer.

To make this a little more fun, we’ve broken this list up into different tiers.

Proven Ballers

Noah Fifita (Arizona): Fifita has thrown for at least 2,800 yards the past three seasons, including a career-high 3,328 and a career-high 29 touchdowns in 2025. OSU fans need to look no further than Fifita’s 376 yards and five touchdowns against the Cowboys last season in Tucson to see why he’s in this section.

Drew Mestemaker (Oklahoma State): You could certainly argue that Mestemaker belongs in the “Transfers Stepping Up” or “Sophomore Surge” sections later in this post, but while he might not be Big 12-proven, leading the country in passing yards as a redshirt freshman has to count for something, right?

Mestemaker threw for 4,379 yards and 34 touchdowns at North Texas last season. Two of his top three targets from last season are now with him in Stillwater along with Chris Barnes and Justin Bowick, who OSU fans are rather excited about.

Devon Dampier (Utah): I struggled with where to put Dampier, but the more I looked into it, I think this is where he goes.

His 2,490 passing yards last season ranked 10th in the conference, but that comes with the caveat that Dampier threw 24 touchdown passes, which ranked sixth in the league. Meanwhile, his five INTs were a Big 12-low among starters. Then on top of that, Dampier ran for another 835 yards and 10 touchdowns. So, 34 total TDs, limited INTs and the Utes won 11 games last season? It’s time for me to stop sleeping on Dampier.

Sophomore Surge

Bear Bachmeier (BYU): For a lot of the same reasons Dampier is in “Proven Ballers,” you could argue that’s where Bachmeier belongs, as well, but I think he better fits here.

As a true freshman, Bachmeier threw for 3,033 yards (fourth in the Big 12), but his touchdown-to-interception ratio could use a bit of work, throwing 15 TDs to seven picks. But he’s also a threat to run, scooting for 11 more TDs.

It was an outstanding freshman season, but what should be exciting for BYU fans is that he’ll likely only get better.

Julian Lewis (Colorado): Lewis was a Top 50 recruit in the 2025 class but had an up-and-down first four games in Boulder. It looked as if he might take the starting job from the jump, but Kaidon Salter ended up emerging as the Buffs’ starter.

In four games (two starts), Lewis threw for 589 yards and four touchdowns to no interceptions. Colorado wasn’t quite OSU bad last year, but the Buffaloes went 3-9. It’s hard to put too much of that on a true freshman who played in only four games, but it goes to show that not everything around Lewis was working properly.

If Colorado can clean some other things up, look for Lewis to take a step forward given his talent and the fact that he has a better idea of what college football is all about.

Prove-It Year

DJ Lagway (Baylor): It’s hard to deny the ability DJ Lagway has, but it never quite came all the way together in his two seasons as Florida’s starter.

In those two seasons, Lagway threw for 4,179 yards and 28 touchdowns to 23 interceptions. He also ran for 237 yards and another score.

He’s closer to home at Baylor, where his father Derek was a running back for the Bears in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Lagway is also just a true junior, so north of 4,000 yards and nearly 30 TDs as an underclassman isn’t too bad a resume. Still, given some of the expectation of being Florida’s starting quarterback, it didn’t exactly go to plan, but he has all the potential to breakout in the Big 12.

Avery Johnson (Kansas State): The Avery Johnson hype train lost some steam in 2025, but there’s reason to believe it could pick back up in 2026.

Johnson threw for 2,385 yards and ran for 477 last season — a drop of 455 total yards from his standout 2024 sophomore season. On top of that, the Wildcats went from going 9-4 in 2024 to 6-6 in 2025.

New head coach/play caller Collin Klein should help unlock Johnson after Klein returned to his alma mater following two seasons being the OC at Texas A&M.

If Johnson could be a more consistent version of the breakout sophomore he was back in 2024, look out.

Michael Hawkins Jr. (West Virginia): Hawkins could still need to get past Scotty Fox to be the Mountaineers starter, but from the outside, it seems like that’s the way things are headed. Hawkins spent the past two seasons at Oklahoma but wasn’t able to take a firm grasp on the Sooners’ starting job.

OU had all sorts of quarterback troubles in 2024, Hawkins’ true freshman season. He played in seven games that year, making four starts and throwing for 783 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. With John Mateer transferring to Norman in 2025, Hawkins was a firm backup, playing in two games where he threw for 167 yards and three scores.

Transfers Stepping Up

Alonza Barnett III (UCF): James Madison won 21 games across the past two seasons as Barnett was the Dukes’ starter. Those two seasons saw Barnett combine the throw for 5,404 yards and 49 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. He ran for another 1,031 yards and 22 scores.

JC French IV (Cincinnati): Playing under Clay Helton, French led Georgia Southern to bowl games the past two seasons. In that stretch French threw for 5,760 yards and 37 touchdowns to 19 picks. He ran for 564 yards and eight more touchdowns in those two seasons.

Jaylen Reynor (Iowa State): Reynor started at Arkansas State the past three seasons, totaling 8,694 passing yards, 52 passing touchdowns, 28 interceptions, 1,183 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.

Jaden Craig (TCU): Having graduated from Harvard, Craig joins the Horned Frogs after throwing for 6,074 yards and 52 touchdowns in three seasons at the FCS level. How does that experience translate in the Big 12? I guess we’ll find out.

Things Could Get Weird

Houston: Coming off a 10-3 season, Houston football looks to be surging entering Year 4 in the Big 12. It’s in such a good spot, that Willie Fritz and the Cougars landed Keisean Henderson — the No. 1 prospect in all of the 2026 class.

But Conner Weigman is also set to return for his senior season after leading the Cougars to that 10-2 record last season while throwing for 2,705 yards and 25 touchdowns and running for another 700 yards and 11 scores.

It was an outstanding year for Weigman, but the most popular guy on a football team is often the backup quarterback — especially when that backup quarterback is labeled the best high school player from the last class.

I think Houston is legit, but should things start to get rocky for a bit, how loud will the noise be to let the freshman get some run?

Things Already Got Weird

Texas Tech: Unless you live under a rock, you probably already know about the QB situation in Lubbock. The Red Raiders brought in Brendan Sorsby from Cincinnati, but Sorsby has been in the center of a gambling controversy over recent weeks.

Now Sorsby is filing a lawsuit against the NCAA to try to play in 2026. Will it work? I’m not sure. It seems like it shouldn’t, but the NCAA’s record in court of late has been as bad as the Cowboys’ record on the football field.

If Sorsby is unable to go, it looks like the job will fall to sophomore Will Hammond. In the past, Hammond was solid in some spot work for an injured Behren Morton. Hammond played in eight games, throwing for 680 yards and seven TDs to three picks. He tore his ACL late in the year, though. ESPN reported this week that he is expected to be cleared on Aug. 21 — about two weeks before the Red Raiders open their season against Abilene Christian.

Still Battling

Arizona State: Having lost Sam Leavitt to LSU, Kenny Dillingham will break in a new QB in 2026. The two most-likely candidates are probably Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley and Michigan transfer Mikey Keene.

Boley played 11 games at Kentucky last season, throwing for 2,160 yards and 15 touchdowns to 12 INTs. Keene didn’t play in his lone year at Michigan last season but has previously played at UCF and Fresno State. In 39 career games, Keene has thrown for 8,245 yards and 65 touchdowns to 28 INTs.

Kansas: It feels like it’s been a decade sine KU went into a season without Jalon Daniels. Now two of his backups are doing battle to takeover.

It looks like it’ll be either Cole Ballard or Isaiah Marshall taking snaps in Lawrence.

In 15 games across three seasons, Ballard has completed 55% of his passes for 445 yards, three touchdowns and four picks.

In nine games last season, Marshall threw for 28 yards on three attempts while running for 160 yards on 15 attempts.

OSU Bullets

• Eric Morris has more talent on his roster than he did in front of his historic run at North Texas (PFB)

• The Pokes are solidly in second at the men’s golf regional at Marana (AZ) through the second round. The host Arizona Wildcats shot a -24 in the second round (Clippd)

• Stillwater is home to two of the Big 12’s hottest bats (both are first-team All-Big 12) and one is now credentialed by the league for the honor of best slugger (X)

2026 Baseball Yearly Honors ⚾️🏆

Slugger of the Year | Alex Conover ( yes you read that correctly .416 😲 )#Big12BSB🤝 @OSUBaseball pic.twitter.com/GutBpYw31B — Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) May 19, 2026

• Take a look at what regionals the Cowboy Baseball team is projected for going into the Big 12 tournament this week (PFB)

• A little in-state round-up on players the Cowboy Football team has offered and their commitment dates approaching quick (PFB)

• Ruby Meylan is (no-brainer) first-team All-American:

No-brainer. Ruby has been named a First Team All-American by @SoftbalAmerica 💫#GoPokes | @rubymeylan pic.twitter.com/smBCUSMdg5

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 19, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• How to just do (some)thing

• Convicting take in “why so many Christians don’t grow up”

After Broken Arrow defensive back Bryson Brown set a commitment date this weekend, newly offered Pryor receiver Cooper Hooker announced Tuesday that he’ll pick his college on Thursday. On top of that, Bixby linebacker Cain Brackney announced he received an Oklahoma State offer on Monday.

We’ve already written on Brown announcing his date, but here’s a little more on the two most recent bits of news.

Hooker Picking Program Thursday

On May 11, Hooker announced he picked up an Oklahoma State offer. Two days later he announced he’d set up an official visit to Stillwater for the end of the month. And now Hooker has announced that 10 days after his OSU offer, he’s going to pick a college.

May 21st . 1pm
Where’s home ?? 🏠🏠@samspiegs @ParkerThune @BrandonHuffman @Hayesfawcett3 @TheUCReport @derekrasmussen @Sooner7v7 @coach_hadac @FriedmanAdamm @UANextFootball @Bdrumm_OUI @PryorTigerFB @Coach_DavisPHS @CoachSaiz10 pic.twitter.com/Fek1GtGCp0

— Cooper Hooker 3⭐️ (@coophook1) May 19, 2026

Hooker will make his announcement at 1 p.m. Thursday. Along with OSU, he has offers to Texas State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and others.

He’s a 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster who has played at Salina but will play at Pryor as a senior. He has a lasered 40 time of 4.44 and a 4.38 shuttle.

The 247Sports Composite ranking lists Hooker as the No. 1,425 player in the 2027 class, listing him as the top receiver in the state.

Hooker missed his sophomore season with a broken fibula but returned as a junior to the tune of 50 receptions for 850 yards and 15 touchdowns. He scored 22 total touchdowns this past season as Salina went 10-2 and made the second round of the 2A-II playoffs.

Along with his track speed, Hooker is a switch-hitting shortstop. He hit .467 as a junior with five home runs.

Brackney Announces OSU Offer

Brackney committed to UCLA on April 24, but that hasn’t stopped schools from coming in with offers.

Since that commitment, Brackney has announced offers to Colorado, Indiana, Oklahoma State and Baylor.

All Glory To God! After a great conversation with @CoachSkyCassity blessed to say I have a received an offer from the Oklahoma state University! Thank you for the opportunity to pursue my passion for football and further my education! #Blessed #p3 pic.twitter.com/E46dBsezah

— Cain Brackney (@BrackneyCain) May 19, 2026

Listed at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, Brackney is the No. 1,104 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking, with 247 listing him as a Top 100 linebacker in the class and a Top 15 player from Oklahoma.

He played at Union last season, finishing the year with 102 tackles, a dozen tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

That’s a big reason they are in Stillwater now, but how long will it take Morris and company to rebuild that foundation at Oklahoma State?

Although there’s been plenty of positive buzz this offseason, FanDuel Sportsbook is currently booking win total bets for the Cowboys at 5.5 wins. Although the specific odds suggest FanDuel favors OSU to clear that bar and become bowl eligible. In fact, where win totals are concerned, the Cowboys winning six games is the biggest favorite in the conference.

While North Texas’ ascent to the near top of the American Conference and national relevancy feels obvious now, that wasn’t the case around this time last year when some oddsmakers set UNT’s win total at 6.5. Talk about a steal! North Texas had seven wins before Halloween.

Morris accomplished that with a team that featured only seven full-time returning starters and four guys who contributed enough in 2024 to be worth consideration as returning part-time starters.

Although fans will recognize a handful of returning Cowboy faces this fall, the true returning starters from a development standpoint are guys like quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who followed their coaches from UNT this offseason.

That list includes eight full-time starters and five part-time starters, which helped Morris turn North Texas into a national storyline.

The level of competition for those guys increased this offseason, but Oklahoma State’s coaches arguably have an even better foundation this season than they had at UNT.

The biggest difference between the two groups of returners is the split between offense and defense. Last season, UNT returned five full-time starters (four of whom are now Cowboys), including two safeties (Quinton Hammonds and Evan Jackson), two linebackers (Ethan Wesloski) and one defensive lineman (Fatafehi Vailea).

This season, OSU returns three full-time starters from UNT in Hammonds, Wesloski and defensive lineman Saadiq Clements. They also return three part-timers in Jackson, corner Kollin Lewis and edge rusher Keviyan Huddleston.

From a personnel standpoint, the situation Oklahoma State’s offensive playcaller faces is so much more positive than what he had before. In 2025, Morris built his record-setting offense around a group that included only two full-time returning starters, both offensive linemen (Braydon Nelson and Johnny Dickson, who are now at OSU), and four part-timers, comprising of three wide receivers (including both Wyatt Young and Miles Coleman) and one offensive tackle.

This season, Morris gets to flex his muscles with five full-time returners: Mestemaker, Young, Nelson, Dickson and running back Caleb Hawkins, in addition to two part-timers in Coleman and lineman Desmond Magiya.

While not all of these guys are expected to start for the Cowboys in 2026, it seems safe to conclude that anyone who beats these guys out for playing time this fall has truly impressed the coaches.

Here’s a brief look at all 13 “returning starters” with key 2025 stats:

QB Drew Mestemaker: Led nation in passing yards (4,379) and passing yards per attempt (9.46) while finishing top five in a number of other key stats.

RB Caleb Hawkins: Scored an all-time NCAA freshman record 29 touchdowns

WR Wyatt Young: 1,246 receiving yards ranked third in the nation

RG Johnny Dickson: PFF Run-blocking grade of 72.6 ranked second among UNT OL

LT Braydon Nelson: 961 offensive snaps, second-most on team

S Quinton Hammonds: Five tackles for loss and one sack

LB Ethan Wesloski: Team-high 113 tackles (team-high 59 solo)

DL Saadiq Clements: 11 total pressures created (seventh most on team) on 165 attempts

WR Miles Coleman: Third on team in receptions (47) and yards (550)

LT Desmond Magiya: Topped 50 snaps in four games while splitting time between left guard and left tackle

S Evan Jackson: Two interceptions and two pass breakups

CB Kollin Lewis: Team-best 42.1% completion percentage against him (min. 200 snaps in coverage)

Edge Keviyan Huddleston: Team-high five sacks

Oklahoma State enters as the Big 12’s 5 seed and will take on 4 seed UCF at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Knights swept the Cowboys in Orlando earlier this year, but OSU has gotten hot since then. That UCF series was OSU’s first Big 12 series of the year, but the Pokes closed the year having won four conference series in a row.

That late-season resurgence pushed the Pokes back into the national picture. They enter the week ranked 19th nationally, according to D1Baseball. The Cowboys rank 29th in RPI.

This week will play a part in what OSU’s postseason looks like. D1Baseball and Baseball America both released updated projections for the NCAA Tournament field this week, with both having the Cowboys as 2 seeds in a Regional.

D1Baseball has the Cowboys going to Tallahassee in an NCAA Regional that features Florida State, Kentucky and Binghamton. It projects Florida State as the 11 seed nationally.

The Seminoles are 38-16 and the 3 seed at this week’s ACC tourney. OSU played in an NCAA Regional in Tallahassee back in 2004, going 1-2.

Baseball America has the Cowboys heading to an old conference foe in the College Station Regional with Texas A&M, Louisiana and Saint Joseph’s. Baseball America has the Aggies as the 8 seed nationally.

The Aggies are 39-13 this season. A&M is 2-0 against Big 12 competition this year, beating Arizona State 9-3 in March and Houston 10-2 in April. OSU fans might be somewhat familiar with how OU is doing this season, given the Cowboys have played the Sooners twice, splitting those games. A&M went 1-2 in an SEC series against OU in Norman in mid-March.

The Cowboys and Aggies haven’t met in NCAA Tournament play since 1987, when they played three times at the Mideast Regional in Starkville, Mississippi. OSU went 2-1 in those games, making the College World Series.

The two outlets are just about in lock step when it comes to Regional hosts at this point. Here’s a look at the 16 schools each outlet has as hosts going into the conference tournaments.

So, if right now the Cowboys are projected somewhere to travel to face somewhere between the 8 seed or the 11 seed, that also puts hosts Southern Miss and Florida in play.

If the Cowboys go on a run in the Big 12 Tournament, a tournament they’ve won three times since 2017, including 2024, then the Cowboys could see themselves going to Nebraska or Mississippi State. An early exit and some tournament runs elsewhere could see the Cowboys going to Auburn, Alabama, North Carolina or Texas.

OSU Bullets

• Cowboy Golf is tied for the lead through day one at the Marana Regional at -11 (OKState.com)

• Cowgirl Softball takes on Nebraska in a pitcher’s duel on Thursday at 8pm on ESPN2 (HC)

• With Sunday’s win over Arizona, the Pokes locked in the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament and a Thursday bout with No. 4 seed UCF (PFB)

2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament presented by Allstate Bracket Announced

next stop ➡️ Surprise, AZ ⚾️ ℹ️ https://t.co/Of8WmH4VX9 🎟️ https://t.co/k5zu1QFBS9 pic.twitter.com/8HVuoA8GFf — Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) May 17, 2026

• How Jacie Hoyt built a roster from one player (PFB)

• Cowboys are being projected as a two-seed in the Tallahassee Regional currently:

#OkState (36-19, 18-12 Big 12) is projected as a 2-seed in Florida State’s regional according to @d1baseball’s latest Projected Field of 64. This would be a *loaded* Tallahassee Regional. https://t.co/Atu8sIZ1cZ pic.twitter.com/zwdmonVkCJ

— Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 18, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• 15 tiny mindset habits to change

• Do you know how to behave on a flight? Take this quiz.

• Which college majors offer the best ROI?

With a fun Spider-Man themed graphic, Broken Arrow’s Bryson Brown announced that he’ll pick a school on Saturday. He didn’t announce a Top X number of schools, but Brown has offers to Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Kansas, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, Oklahoma and others.

May 23rd ‼️🤙🏽@THillBAFootball @TheCoachJoShow @CoachJuiceDixon @CoachReed_@GregBiggins@AllenTrieu @MikeRoach247 @Josh_Scoop @CoachSmith_31 @Liltwin_84@ChadSimmons @TomLoy247@DemetricDWarren @mfarrellsports@TheUCReport @adamgorney @samspiegs@CoachReed_ @dhglover… pic.twitter.com/ROmBtcaODf

— 𝑩𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒐𝒏”𝑩𝑩”𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 (@iam_bb4) May 18, 2026

He has announced official visits to Arkansas (May 29-31), Oklahoma State (June 4-6) and Kansas (June 19-21), so those schools would probably be considered the front runners.

Rivals lists Brown as the No. 685 player in the 2027 recruiting class, pinning him as the No. 14 player from Oklahoma and the No. 74 safety in the cycle.

He’s listed at 6-feet, 186 pounds. MaxPreps had stats for eight of Brown’s games from his junior season, tabbing him wit 31 tackles and a tackle for loss while lining up at a more traditional safety spot and at nickel.

New OSU coach Eric Morris seems to be putting a premium on track speed, something Brown provides. Athletic.net credited Brown with a 10.90 100 meters at his regional track meet earlier this month. Brown also boasts a 10.8 time on his X profile.

The Cowboys have seemingly made Brown a priority in the cycle. Not long after Morris got the job, he was posing for a photo alongside the Tiger DB, with Brown sharing this picture on Jan. 21.

Thank you for stopping by @__CoachMorris 🤠‼️ #Reoffered #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/2f0fXVPFpj

— 𝑩𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒐𝒏”𝑩𝑩”𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 (@iam_bb4) January 21, 2026

Brown announced he was locking in an OSU official visit on March 5. Then on March 7, he was posing for a photo alongside OSU defensive backs coaches Jordan Malone and Julian Wilson.

All love today 🤠!!@CowboyFB @__CoachMorris @CoachMalone18 @JWilson_2 @CoachSkyCassity @THillBAFootball @TheCoachJoShow @coachtwin_84@coachwvde @CoachJuiceDixon @polk_way @hellstarsports @GregBiggins @AllenTrieu @MikeRoach247 @Josh_Scoop @ChadSimmons @TomLoy247@DemetricDWarren… pic.twitter.com/WuMQDuXDX6

— 𝑩𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒐𝒏”𝑩𝑩”𝑩𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 (@iam_bb4) March 8, 2026

The Cowboys have one commitment in their 2027 class to this point in quarterback Carson White.

“‘Hey Coach, are you still interested?'” Hoyt recalled. “I’m like, ‘Hell yeah I’m still interested.’ This is amazing. I think we’re gonna get Liv, and now Audi is texting me.”

Hoyt said she had a great conversation with Crooks when she first hit the portal but things went dark for a little bit from both sides — something Hoyt said is common in the speed dating that is the transfer portal. Hoyt said she was starting to think Crooks just wasn’t interested. Again, something that happens when you’re looking to fill basically an entire roster.

From there, they set Crooks up with a visit to Stillwater. Hoyt said when she picked Crooks up at the airport it felt like she had known Crooks her whole life.

Although it hasn’t been exactly that long, Hoyt said she did recruit Crooks back when she was coaching at UMKC before Crooks turned into a two-time All-American at Iowa State.

Any worries of whether Crooks would enjoy life in Stillwater were quickly washed away when Crooks — from Algona, Iowa, a town of about 5,000 — got excited to see the pond in Hoyt’s backyard. Hoyt said the OSU staff made a concerted effort to not make it feel like they were putting on a show with Crooks being in town but rather were just real with her.

It worked. Late on April 19, Crooks announced her commitment to Oklahoma State.

“Audi goes in the portal, and there’s this whole buffet of options and everything sounds really great,” Hoyt said, “but when you get down to the heart of what’s really important to you, I think that’s when she kind of circled back.”

Of the 10 Cowgirls from last season’s roster who could return, only Stailee Heard did. Hoyt said she had a feeling a big roster overhaul was a possibility — even before the Cowgirls went to Los Angeles for the NCAA Tournament.

“I could feel it coming,” Hoyt said. “I’m gonna be honest, I had a lot of conversations with our players on that team that I knew the chance of them leaving was very, very high. I was anticipating it. I knew it when we went out to California, to be honest. It was something that I also felt was hard kinda knowing while I was coaching in the tournament that I’m probably not gonna have this team next year.”

The Cowgirls lost to eventual national champ UCLA on March 23. The portal didn’t open until April 6.

“In that week or whatever it was … that’s a hard time,” Hoyt said. “Because you just have to sit on (the fact that only one player is on the roster). You’ve got a lot of thoughts and what-ifs going on, but my staff was really great. And we just stuck together like we always do, and then when the portal opened and you start to have those conversations, it was so refreshing and so energizing and felt so good to hear the feedback from other kids and what their perception of us is.

“That was very therapeutic, honestly, once the portal opens just to have those conversations with kids who want to be here. I want kids who want to be here, and every single one of our kids that we have on this roster, they want to be here for very specific reasons and they’re very motivated. I’m really excited about that.”

Crooks’ commitment was the exclamation point, but Hoyt and her staff were killing in the portal even before that. Various outlets listed the Cowgirls’ portal haul as the best in the country.

Along with Crooks, McGill — a point guard transfer from Florida — averaged 22.5 points a game as a sophomore in the SEC last season.

Rutgers transfer Nene Ndiaye broke out to the tune of 14.8 points a game last season in the Big Ten.

Lindenwood transfer Ellie Brueggemann averaged 14 points a game last season while shooting 44% from 3 on 218 attempts.

LA Sneed was a five-star prospect who averaged 6.3 points and 3.3 assists a game as a freshman at Utah last season, bringing more Big 12 experience into the fold.

Talexa Weeter is the reigning Division-II Player of the Year after averaging 27.5 points a game at Fort Hays State.

One after another, they felt like massive pieces the Cowgirls were adding. Hoyt said her portal experience helped prime her to make such a run. Her first OSU roster after being hired ahead of the 2022-23 season had just five holdovers on it, as Hoyt went and snagged the likes of Naomie Alnatas, Lior Garzon and Terryn Milton out of the portal and made a run to the NCAA Tournament. She just about had to do the same the next season with much of that first group being seniors.

With all the excitement around this offseason’s additions, it can be easy to forget that the roster also features Heard, who has been the most impactful player of the Hoyt Era. Entering her senior season, Heard already ranks in the Top 10 in program history in career points, rebounds, assists, steals and double-doubles.

“Stailee and I are one in the same — we’re connected at the hip,” Hoyt said. “We both knew what was coming this offseason before our season even ended, and we were in sync and in stride together every step of the way.

“The great thing about her, whether it’s on the court or off the court, is she has this maturity that she can think like a coach. So, I just told her, ‘I’m gonna need your help recruiting, and I’m gonna tell you who we’re talking to and how these conversations are going. I’m gonna need help on visits, and I need you to help me. I need to you to tell me if someone’s not a good fit or what you’re feeling or sensing.’ She was able to do that. She was basically a part of the coaching staff this offseason.”

So, now Hoyt gets to put it all together.

Hoyt said McGill fits “like a glove” into OSU’s style of play. A lot has already been said about how exactly Crooks will fit into Hoyt’s up-tempo style. It doesn’t sound as if the Cowgirl coach is all that worried about it.

“I think that’s the obvious thing that people think immediately, but Audi came here because she wanted to be a part of our style,” Hoyt said. “And I don’t intend on changing that. Am I gonna need to make some tweaks here and there? Of course. You have to do that every year, but Audi is very motivated to play in a system that she feels can help her go to the next level. …

“I think she’s excited to fit into us. We’re not changing everything for Audi, and Audi doesn’t want that. Audi wants to be pushed. She wants to be in a system that is gonna help develop her and push her in ways that she hasn’t been pushed, and that’s the goal for all of us.”

OSU Bullets

• The Cowgirls are headed to the Super Regionals this weekend – the hosting Cowgirl squad took out Stanford yesterday, 11-5 to move ahead in the playoffs (PFB)

• Cade Cunningham’s Detroit Pistons lost in game 7 yesterday – here’s what they need to evaluate to help him get to the conference finals next year (CBS Sports)

• The Cowboy secondary added reinforcements this weekend – landing a Miami (Fl) safety yesterday and a Youngstown St. cornerback on Saturday (PFB) • Big 12 5k winner is a Poke (X)

• If we were 12 years deep into a 24-team playoff, you would have seen plenty of orange and black in the playoffs:

What would it look like long term if there were a 24-team CFB Playoff? *IF* the CFP had been 24 teams from the start in 2014, 80 different teams would’ve made an appearance over the last 12 seasons. pic.twitter.com/xWPOACMDWg

— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) May 16, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Americans bought European houses for a pound, here’s how it’s going • OKC Thunder’s SGA was named MVP yesterday, the 14th player to earn the award back-to-back

Oklahoma State beat Stanford 11-5 on Sunday to win the Stillwater Regional and advance to a Super Regional against Nebraska in Lincoln next week.

The Cowgirls were already up 5-2 when senior Claire Timm stepped to the plate in the fifth with the bases loaded, but then she sent a ball through the windy Stillwater sky to right-center. The grand slam essentially made the rest of the game a formality.

Everything everywhere all at once 🗣️

Claire’s second career grand slam, the team’s 67th dinger of the year AND the Cowgirls are up by 7⃣

📺 ESPN #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/RicaOUpXTV

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 17, 2026

The Timm Reaper nickname is something that has stuck with Timm, now a senior, for a while. She doesn’t sound the most in love with the nickname, but it was more than appropriate on Sunday.

“I’ve kinda gotten used to it,” Timm said before the regional. “Not my favorite, but I think other people like it so I just kinda take it.”

The inning before ended on a down note for Timm. Kyra Chan got a ball through the right side, and then it got past Timm. In her defense, the wind was ridiculous inside Cowgirl Stadium on Sunday. As the ball started to get through the right side, a gust brought a lot of dust from the now-delapidated Allie P. Reynolds Stadium next door. The umpire had been calling time when he could to avoid the dust storms, but this one started to kick up when the ball was already in play.

That run would score, cutting OSU’s lead to 3-2 after four.

The Cowgirls made no excuse of the wind Sunday and even said it probably helped them because they’re used to these gusty Oklahoma days.

Before Timm’s fifth-innning grand slam, Amanda Hasler hit a two-run shot — her  second home run of the Regional. It also scored Lexi McDonald, who doubled to start the inning.

Everything everywhere all at once 🗣️

Claire’s second career grand slam, the team’s 67th dinger of the year AND the Cowgirls are up by 7⃣

📺 ESPN #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/RicaOUpXTV

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 17, 2026

Hasler said she had a celebration in mind, but the ball was close to being foul so she holstered it.

“I was actually thinking about bat-flipping,” Hasler said. “But I was like, ‘That might be foul. That’ll be really embarrassing if I do that.’ But I was watching it the whole time. I almost missed first base, so I didn’t know if it was going to stay fair. …

“It wasn’t going to be a (bat) flip, it was gonna be more of a slam. I’ll save it for another time.”

Hasler nearly hit for the cycle Sunday. She finished with half of the Cowgirls’ six hits, singling in the second inning, doubling in the third and then ripping that homer in the fifth.

Although OSU didn’t have a crazy number of hits, the Cowgirls were disciplined at the plate, walking 11 times and killing the Cardinal on the basepaths. It resulted in more runs than Ruby Meylan needed.

The Cowgirl ace threw all seven innings. She almost needed only six but gave up a two-run home run with two outs in the sixth. Had they gotten that out (which Jayelle Austin nearly robbed), the game would’ve ended then via run-rule. Meylan put her hands on her head as it went out but then came back in the seventh and put the side down in order.

It was a bit of an interesting spot for Gajewski and pitching coach Carrie Eberle Parker. There’s no denying this team is much better when Meylan is pitching, but had the Cowgirls lost Sunday, they would’ve had to play again right after. So, do you go with your ace and try to end it early? Or do you play it a little more cautiously in case you have to play anther seven innings?

It was a decision that lingered in the hours leading up to the game.

“Carrie wants to have answers at nighttime,” Gajewski said. “I don’t always like to have answers at nighttime. She was wearing my phone out, and I kept dodging her calls. So, we finally talked about 9:30 and she just kind of walked me through some scenarios, and I just told her, I said, ‘We’re going with Ruby. That’s what we’re gonna do. There’s no need to even think about anything else. We’re going to win the first game. That’s the way that we gotta go.’

“No disrespect to anybody else on our pitching staff, but I think if we didn’t throw Ruby in the first game, these guys (the players) may have come after me.”

This Regional was a show of just how far the Cowgirls have come over the span of a season. They played Stanford twice at the very beginning of the year. The Cardinal won the first game 4-2 and the second 10-0 in five innings.

Those teams met twice in Stillwater this weekend, with OSU winning both games by a combined score of 18-7. The Cowgirls outscored their three opponents a combined 34-7 this weekend. That 27-run differential is a program-best for OSU in an NCAA Regional.

“This team is a much different team (from the start of the season),” Gajewski said. “I think we are a much different team than we started out at. I think if I go back and look at what I had, like when I look back and saw the box scores and saw a little bit of our games, I was like, ‘Oh, man.’ Like, we look different. I mean, we look different as players, and swing-wise, and pitching, and defense. It’s nuts.

“So, that’s what’s cool. And that’s why you love coaching because it’s the journey. We left (Stanford) kind of upset we didn’t play better, and now you look back, I would trade that every time to have this, right?”

Cowgirls Match Up with Nebraska in Supers

The Cowgirls’ Super Regional in Lincoln won’t be short on storylines.

For starters, these teams met twice in Febuary, splitting those games. OSU won the first, 2-1 in 11 innings while Nebraska took the second, 4-3.

It’ll also be a homecoming of sorts for Meylan as the Cowgirl ace is from Omaha.

The Super will feature an elite pitching matchup between Meylan and OSU’s former Bedlam rival Jordy Frahm (previously Bahl). Frahm enters the Super with a 1.15 ERA.

The Cowboys’ secondary just added some speed and experience.

Former Miami safety Markeith Williams is expected to transfer to Oklahoma State, according to a report by 247 Sports. Williams also posted this to Instagram on Sunday from his visit to OSU.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Onee Dinero (@oneedinero)

The 6-foot-, 170-pound safety is a three-star prospect according to 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings and the No. 104 ranked safety. He should come to Stillwater with two years of eligibility remaining.

A four-star prospect out of Orlando, Florida, Williams signed with Miami over offers from the likes of Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia a couple dozen other schools. He was consensus Top 300 prospect in the 2022 class and a Top 25 safety according to 247 and ESPN. He also ran track in high school.

Williams saw action in four games a true freshman before taking a redshirt in 2022 but appeared in 11 games as a redshirt frosh and 13 games as a sophomore in 2024, totaling 17 tackles, a tackle for loss and two passes deflected. He announced that he was entering the transfer portal in September of 2025 and did not appear in any games for the Hurricanes.

OSU Bullets

• The Cowgirls beat Stanford and will rematch with the Cardinal Sunday for the Stillwater Regional Final. [PFB]

Job’s not finished. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/Urn1KcuRWh

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 17, 2026

• Great stuff from Ruby Meylan after the win.

Ruby Meylan…Feeling Good is Overrated! I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff! Well, WOW…Looked pretty DURNED good to me! #gopokes #okstate pic.twitter.com/s5xmfoo3aJ

— OState Daily (@Ostate_Daily) May 17, 2026

• The Cowboys capped the regular season with their fourth-straight series win, topping Arizona 7-5 on Saturday. [PFB]

• Eric Morris & Co. landed a speedy cornerback by way of the portal. [PFB]

• Was a fun one. 

Posting a classic college football game every day until college football is back!

2021 Fiesta Bowl – Notre Dame vs Oklahoma State (Jan 2, 2022) https://t.co/ilX53xJBO0 pic.twitter.com/YTpKegEMxN

— College Football Zone (@CollegeFBonX) May 14, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Crazy. 

• These are pretty great.

Introducing Street Fighter: CLE!

🕹️ 2026 Schedule Release pic.twitter.com/aFvc1vMGKx

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) May 14, 2026

More studies on how doom scrolling is affecting our brains. [Nat Geo $$]

Oklahoma State beat Arizona 7-5 on Saturday in the teams’ rubber match. The game saw four balls leave the yard, and three of those came off the Cowboys’ bats.

The Cowboys entered the day with 130 homers on the season, which was good for second nationally behind only Georgia (142).

With the Cowboys down 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth on Saturday, Colin Brueggemann got the home run party started, as the senior sent a solo shot to right on Senior Day. It was his 16th of the season. It was crushed, landing 437 feet from home plate with a 106-mph exit velocity.

Bomba numero 16 for Bruegge 💣#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/TvXgEuOKJg

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

That seemed to crack the seal for the Pokes, as later in the inning, freshman Remo Indomenico hit his first career home run. It was a two-run shot that put the Pokes back in the lead.

When the ball hits the sky, like a big pizza pie, THAT’S A REMO 🤌#GoPokes | @RemoIndomenico pic.twitter.com/T5NFVCJenF

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

Then later in the fourth, senior Aidan Meola hit a three-run shot off the scoreboard. Had the scoreboard not been there, that ball might still be airborne. It was his 17th of the year. All of a sudden, the Pokes led 7-3.

Somebody check on the scoreboard 😬

Meola goes yard for the third home run of the inning#GoPokes | @aidanmeola1 pic.twitter.com/kt1YJouGEf

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

Kollin Ritchie entered the day in solo second nationally in round-trippers with 28. Although he didn’t add to his tally Saturday, he was still productive.

He went 3-for-4 at the dish with two of those hits going into a heavy shift, with Ritchie making it look like target practice.

Then he went the other way, doubling to left-center in the sixth. It looked like a single off the bat, but Ritchie took advantage of some lackadaisical fielding and booked it to second.

He’s a stand-up guy 🤠

A stand-up double is hit No. 3 for @RitchieKollin #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/rU8BmwrMtU

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

Arizona elected to intentionally walk Ritchie in the eighth to a chorus of boos from those in attendance at O’Brate Stadium.

Sophomore right-hander Stormy Rhodes got the start on the bump and gave the Cowboys a solid outing. He threw seven innings, giving up five runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out six.

He handed the ball to Noah Wech in the eighth, who made quick work of his lone inning, using just nine pitches to retire three Wildcats. Two of those outs came via strikeout.

Then Mario Pesca entered to close. The senior righty from The Bronx struck out the first batter he faced before giving up a single. But he left the tying run at the plate twice — first with a lineout to left then with a flyout to the warning track.

After transferring in from St. John’s ahead of last season, Pesca made it known Saturday how grateful he is for the opportunity for these two seasons in orange.

“I love this place more than you could ever imagine,” Pesca said. “… I wish I was a Cowboy for a few more years. I wish I had more time here because I love this place. I love Coach (Josh) Holliday. I will forever be indebted to him He gave me the opportunity to be a Cowboy, and that’s something that I’m so grateful for. I’m so grateful to be here and be able to help or try to win some games, however they see fit. Just the fact that I can put the jersey on and play for him is one of the best things that I can do. I’m super thankful for him.”

Cowboys Secure 5 Seed in Big 12 Tournament

OSU closes the regular season at 36-19 and 18-12 in Big 12 play. That secures the 5 seed at next week’s Big 12 Tournament in Arizona. The tournament starts Tuesday, but with the 5 seed, the Cowboys won’t open until Thursday, where they’ll play 4 seed UCF to start.

Josh Holliday’s Postgame News Conference

Youngstown State transfer corner Jeremiah Piper committed to Oklahoma State on Friday after visiting, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Piper played in just one game with the Penguins this season but had previously played at Western Illinois and Western Michigan.

Listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, Piper boasts a 4.3 40-yard dash on his Twitter profile.

In 2024 while at Western Illinois, he made 28 tackles, picked off a pass and broke up four. PFF noted that Piper was targeted 35 times that season, where he allowed 21 catches.

He appeared in 14 games at Western Michigan from 2020 to 2023.

Before that, he was a two-star prospect coming out of the 2020 recruiting class by way of Southfield, Michigan. He picked Western Michigan over offers from Akron, Ohio and Toledo. He played quarterback in high school, running for 1,300 yards as a senior while also intercepting a pass and making 50 tackles as a defender.

He adds to a deep portal haul Morris has had to bring in ahead of his first season of the Cowboys’ coach. North of 80 players on the Cowboys’ roster are new. But, the Pokes are a little light at corner, with just six currently listed on the roster: returner LaDainian Fields, returner Kobi Foreman, Texas Tech transfer Mo Horn, North Texas transfer Kollin Lewis, freshman Maliek Bracy and freshman Marrel Davis III.

When Saturday’s game ended, Oklahoma State beat Stanford 7-2, almost exclusively based off their home run hits, and only one single homer separated the two across their entire careers.

“Ahhh, DANG IT!” Godwin shouted when she found out Davis led her by one home run in the postgame press conference. “Now there is (going to be some trash talk) now that you told me.”

Davis, OSU’s season-leader with 15, is tied for fourth all-time alongside former Cowgirl Julie Ward (2009-12) on Oklahoma State’s career home run list with 32 total.

Both juniors have a chance to catch third place this season, as Tiffany Mikkelson (2013-16) only hit 35. It’s not a certainty that either or both current Cowgirls will ever catch first place, as both Kiley Naomi (2019-23) and Sydney Pennington (2018-22) hit 47 homers, but they are nearly on track to do so.

“I think the reason they get along so well off the field as well is because they’re different,” Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski said. “And they can kind of balance each other out. Rosie is pretty chill, she’s competitive now, but she’s pretty chill, and so I think that’s good for her. And I think her (Godwin’s) mentality, the way she goes about things, kind of keeps Rosie from getting too chill. So you can kind of see that balance.”

Davis struck first on Saturday, giving the Cowgirls an early 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the first when she sent a ball 259 feet over left field.

Godwin then delivered a first-pitch homer to put three more runs on the board during her second at-bat. Seconds later, Davis threatened to pad the lead even more when she sent a missile toward the fence, but it lacked the distance and resulted in an out.

Fellow junior Tia Warsop hasn’t exactly kept pace with her classmates, entering Saturday’s game with only one career homer, but on Saturday, she held her own, hitting a 3-run bomb that landed in an OSU fan’s hands at the wall with two outs on the board to extend the lead even further.

Stanford finally responded with a two-run homer from Kyra Chan in the seventh. The final inning changed the way ace pitcher Ruby Meylan’s day looked on paper as she gave up three hits, including a double and Chan’s bomb.

“I think it was probably good for her, to be honest, to give up those runs,” Gajewski said. “Because she can lose focus at times, and it just helps you to reset and go. I can’t lose focus on any pitches.”

Meylan nodded along when her head coach said that, and she also agreed when Gajewski said she didn’t have her best stuff.

“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Meylan said. “We knew yesterday I didn’t have my best stuff, and I don’t know if that’s. I mean, just sometimes you just don’t have it, like that’s life. So that’s working through it. … sports psychologist, Ken Ravizza, I heard him say, ‘you don’t have to feel good to play good, you’re not that crappy of a softball player that you have to feel good to play good,’ so like feeling good is overrated.”​

As critical as Meylan and Gajewski were of her performance, Oklahoma State’s ace had impressively only given up one hit and one walk throughout the first six innings, and at one point recorded all of her strikeouts at once when she sent three straight Stanford batters back to the dugout.

Similar to other comments Meylan made this season, the pitcher said she wouldn’t have been capable of responding the way she did on Saturday earlier in her career.

“If I didn’t have a good bullpen before the game, it was, it’s going to be a bad day,” she said. “And yesterday didn’t feel great, but I just kind of worked through it this morning.

“Still didn’t feel great, but it was like this is like what we have to do to win, and I’m 230-some innings in. If you think I felt good every time, you’re wrong. Like, it’s about 50-50 to be honest with you. So, it’s, it’s cool to feel the (personal) growth.”

Meylan and the other Cowgirls can now enjoy the rest of the day while waiting to meet whoever emerges from Stanford, Princeton and Eastern Illinois for Sunday’s region finals set to start at 3 p.m. Oklahoma State only needs to win one game to advance to the supers, and the team will have two chances to get it on Sunday, if needed.

The favorite on paper to advance is Stanford, which only has to win one more game on Saturday, while the other teams must win back-to-back games.

“They’re all good and I hope they play 10-12 innings in each game,” Gajewski said. “Wish them the best of luck. … I told our team, you guys earned this, you earned the right to go home and watch everybody duke it out, but we need to make sure we stay focused and stay where our feet are, and come out tomorrow, and whoever we play, just take them to the deep end, and that’s all we want to do.”

Three Thoughts

• Jax Forrest wins the World Team Trials – is he everything we assumed Daton Fix would be? Obviously an incredible wrestler… but maybe not the GOAT (PFB)

• The Cowgirls smoked Eastern Illinois, 16-0 in five innings, to set up a rematch from earlier in the season against Stanford today at noon in the Stillwater Regional.
On a related note, the Cowboys evened up their weekend series against Arizona in a 13-1 win on Friday (PFB)

A day for the program record books.

Our 1️⃣6️⃣ runs were the most in Stillwater Regional history and provided OSU’s largest margin of victory in a postseason game in the NCAA era 🤠 #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/0rvMxEnfjF

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 16, 2026

• It’d be fascinating to see how the experience on this squad compares to previous Cowboy Football teams: 

MAKE NO MISTAKE: Oklahoma State is in win-now mode in Year 1. No other Power 4 program added more experience via the transfer portal this offseason than Oklahoma State. In fact, nobody else came close.

This new-look squad imported 495 career starts and more than 36,000 career snaps of Division I experience among its 60 transfer additions. Only one other Power 4 program — Colorado — has added more than 400 Division I starts to its roster this year. [ESPN]

Two Quotes

• I think we all know OSU would be up there twice if wrestling was included: 

GOAT school in each sport. Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/PfxWeGrGAs

— Not Top 25 (@NotTop25) May 13, 2026

• Cade had a legit game for the Pistons to force game seven: 

SMOOTH. OPERATOR.

Cade Cunningham and the Pistons force Game 7 🔥 pic.twitter.com/f7VKXUyuVo

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 16, 2026

One Question

• If you had to guess now – who makes a deeper run in the postseason: Cowboy Baseball, Cowgirl Softball, Cowboy Golf, or Cowgirl Golf?

Non-OSU Bullets

• Embracing the Costco lifestyle

This schedule release is terrific: 

Wow: The Tennessee Titans had the BEST schedule release video of the year and it’s hilarious.

The social media team walked around Nashville to find people who looked like their opponents’ coaches and players.

😭😭😭pic.twitter.com/HqlSaV4oC5

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 15, 2026

No one tells you running is 10% cardio
and 90% negotiating with the voice begging you to quit.

— David Dack (@DavidDack) February 7, 2026

Oklahoma State dispatched of the Wildcats 13-1 in just seven innings. The Pokes went 17-for-34 (.500) at the dish with four home runs, a triple and a double.

The Cowboys also got an outstanding outing from sophomore lefty Ethan Lund. He threw all seven innings, allowing the one run off two hits while walking two and striking out 13.

He allowed a lone base runner in the final four innings while striking out eight across that stretch.

The side = STRUCKOUT 🔥

Lundy’s got double-digit Ks six times this season#GoPokes | @EthanLund36 pic.twitter.com/LjVJTA2NRH

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

The Cowboys scored early and often.

They plated five in the first, an inning that included a homer from leadoff man Alex Conover and a three-run shot from Colin Brueggemann.

Con with another leadoff BLAST

Pokes up early, 1-0#GoPokes | @AlexConover36 pic.twitter.com/gwkAG4qema

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 15, 2026

Fair enough 😮‍💨

Bruegge hits the second 💣 of the inning #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/3C9quLRFVK

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 15, 2026

The Wildcats got their lone run in the top of the second, but the Cowboys poured on three more in the home half of the inning.

The first of those came via Kollin Ritchie’s 29th home run of the season. That ties him with Pete Incaviglia’s 1984 season for the fourth-most in a season in program history. He’s one home run away from tying Lamont Matthews (1999) and Monty Fariss (1988) for second.

Ritchie 🚀#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/ubEGDaxyyi

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 15, 2026

The other runs in that inning came off a Brueggemann single and a bases-loaded walk.

Brueggemann continued his massive day with an RBI single in the fourth. The OSU first baseman finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs.

Garrett Shull hit his 14th home run of the season two batters later. The solo shot made it 10-1.

Left side or right side ⁉️

Either way @gshull_8 is going YARD#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/safl6ZpaAX

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 16, 2026

An RBI single from Brock Thompson and a two-RBI single from Aidan Meola moved that lead to 13-1, where Lund would close it out.

The series rubber match will be at noon on Saturday and is the Cowboys’ regular season finale. The Big 12 Tournament starts Wednesday in Arizona.

OSU is 35-19 overall and 17-12 in league play, which has OSU in fifth in the Big 12. The Cowboys could still climb to fourth with a win Saturday and an Arizona State loss to Houston.

“It was freaking awesome. … Just it being the first pitch, you’re like yeah we got this in the bag,” Oklahoma State senior Amanda Hasler said. “It was insane to watch.”

Regardless of which quote you pick, Hasler pretty much summed up Oklahoma State’s 16-0 five inning run-rule win over Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the Stillwater Regional.

Godwin went 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk and finished with four runs scored and one RBI and kicked off a particularly dominant foursome as the junior and the three players following her in the lineup (Rosie Davis, Lexi McDonald and Amanda Hasler) combined to finish with 11 of the team’s 17 hits, 7-of-13 RBIs and 4-of-6 walks.

Within moments of congratulating Godwin for her early home run, Davis doubled right to center field and finished 3-of-4 at the plate with three runs scored and one RBI.

McDonald walked after fighting through eight pitches. She doubled twice and walked twice en route to four runs scored and two RBIs.

Of the four, Hasler had to wait the longest to record a hit, but she made the most of it, securing her 13th home run of the season in the second inning. She matched Godwin, going 3-for-3 with one walk to go along with two runs scored and a game-high three RBIs.

“I remember it being so loud,” Hasler said, recalling her visit during OSU’s 2024 home Super Regional against Arizona. “And I was like, I want to play under that, like I want to play on the field and hear that surrounding me. And I feel like that’s what I felt today, especially, you know, in the dugout, in the first inning, I was like, wow, like, this is this is a different environment, and it’s just so exciting to be in.”

While those four stole the headlines, pretty much every Cowgirl who picked up a bat performed well as 10-of-14 Cowgirls who stepped up to the plate recorded a hit while eight of them finished with an RBI.

A lot of extra players got to see game action on Friday, but perhaps none as significant as pitcher RyLee Crandall, who replaced ace pitcher Ruby Meylan after only two innings and 44 thrown pitches.

“We love seeing RyLee out there,” McDonald said. “Like we told her one time, ‘we don’t want to see anyone else succeed more than we want to see you succeed.’ And I feel that way about her. So, seeing her succeed just like makes my heart smile, and I love it. And we love it for her, and just seeing everyone succeed has been awesome, and we just love each other.

“Like, generally, I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team that loves each other more than we do. So, it’s really cool getting to see everybody succeed.”

Considering the Cowgirls will need Meylan at her best not just once, but almost certainly twice against Stanford, getting her out of Friday’s game early was a huge win for the team’s chances this weekend.

Gajewski actually thought his ace looked a little rusty after she walked one player and struck out three of the seven batters she faced.

“She needed to throw in this first game,” he said. “And like I said, she’s just, too many pitches, too many full counts. … I think she wants and she feels like she wants to have the weight of the world on her. She doesn’t have to. These guys are good. We’re gonna score runs.”

Crandall held things down, limiting Eastern Illinois to three hits while striking out two of the 12 batters she faced. Her season-long ERA currently sits at 5.47 and increased in four of her last six games ahead of Friday’s game.

“She looked like a different kid here today, that’s all I’m gonna go off of,” Gajewski said. “Like I’ve been telling her the whole time, like I tell all these kids, that you can have the greatest year up to this point, and you know, if you don’t finish good, you’re going to remember that part right now. As you get older, you can appreciate the season and all that kind of stuff, but we tend to remember the end, so it’s cool to see that, and it should give her some confidence.”

Up Next

Oklahoma State advances to play Stanford at noon on Saturday in Cowgirl Stadium. The winner of that game advances to Sunday’s Regional final. The loser would play again at 5 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Eastern Illinois and Princeton.

OSU and Stanford met twice at the start of this season at the Stanford Invitational. The Cardinal won both of those games.

Kenny Gajewski News Conference

Forrest teched Davino 11-1 on Friday in Louisville. It’s the third time in three months the two have wrestled a high-profile match, starting with Forrest’s NCAA final win before Davino got the better of the Cowboy at the Open. But now Forrest is back on top.

A big issue Forrest ran into in that U.S. Open bout was that he got down early, and Davino’s strong defense was too much for Forrest to overcome. That wasn’t the case Friday, as it was Forrest who secured an early takedown, scoring on a double-leg that Forrest was able to hold onto through the takedown and score a turn to go up 4-0 about a minute into the match.

The next scoring exchange came in the second period when Davino got in on a leg, but Forrest hit a crotch lift, taking the Buckeye over for another two points. The two rolled and Davino got on the board with a reversal to make Forrest’s lead 6-1.

Forrest had a slick go behind shortly after the two were brought back to their feet. Forrest didn’t rest on his laurels, though, as he pushed for the tech, getting in on a leg and eventually finishing.

The win in Louisville means Forrest will wrestle Penn State’s Marcus Blaze, who won the U.S. Open, at Final X on June 19 in Newark, New Jersey. The winner of that best-of-three series will represent the United States at the Senior World Championships in October in Bahrain.

Forrest will join Wyatt Hendrickson and Zahid Valencia as Cowboy RTC athletes competing for a World Team spot at Final X.

Robideau Beats Williams for Third

Forrest isn’t the only Cowboy leaving Louisville with some senior-level glory.

Reigning 157-pound NCAA champ Landon Robideau beat former OSU wrestler Jordan Williams 7-0 to take third in the 70 kg bracket. This weekend was Robideau’s first wrestling at the senior level after winning the U20 U.S. Open last month.

Robideau scored four points in the first period — all via step-outs. Then he opened the second period with another step-out point to go up 5-0.

Needing a lot of points, Williams turned up the pace late, but an errant shot saw Robideau land on top for the match’s first and only takedown.

At the end of this month, Robideau will wrestle at the U20 World Team Trials, where he has a bye to the final after winning the Open. Should he win the best-of-three series against whomever comes out of the bracket, Robideau would have the opportunity to represent the United States at the U20 World Championships in August in Slovakia.

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OSU Bullets

• The Cowgirls open their hosted-Regional tournament today against Eastern Illinois at 3:30pm CST – Kenny Gajewski talked about his looming pitching decisions (PFB)

• Wrestling update: the Pokes landed a potential starter at 174 pounds from the ACC yesterday, Jax Forrest is headed to the World Team final at 133 pounds (PFB)

• It’s wild to think about how, by going to OSU, Eric Morris got the opportunity to keep coaching Drew Mestemaker – something surely impossible at North Texas.

The Mean Green were one win away from reaching the College Football Playoff last season with a roster that cost just under $1 million… At Oklahoma State, he started with a fully funded revenue-sharing budget for football of around $15 million with support to fundraise that total up to $20 million or more. Now that Morris had the funds, could he pay for his North Texas stars — especially Mestemaker — to stick with him? [ESPN]

• The Pokes dropped the first game of the series to Arizona last night, 7-4 (OKState.com)

• A couple of Cowgirls made the squad:

All-Region Cowgirls 🤠

📝 https://t.co/YqF72Y2LKR#GoPokes | @rubymeylan | @_RoseDavis2023 pic.twitter.com/csydQTrPWI — OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 14, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• 7 days inside the Thunder’s basketball utopia

• Formation happens when we don’t get what we want (faith-based)

Love that OKC is a reference point for rebuilding:

NEW: Manny Diaz to @AndyStaples on handling QB Darian Mensah transferring to Miami: “My overriding emotion is gratitude, and I really mean that. I am thankful Darian Mensah came to Duke.” Diaz later added: “It’s happened before and the best franchises respond. We talked to our… pic.twitter.com/oUhFwgdxUH

— On3 (@On3) May 13, 2026

Forrest and Davino each advanced to the World Team Trials 61 kg finals on Thursday. To get there, the Cowboy national champ had to defeat rival Aaron Seidel (Virginia Tech) in the semis.

Forrest beat Seidel 9-4 in Thursday’s semi. The Cowboy got a takedown about 30 seconds into the bout and worked hard on a gut wrench to take a 4-0 lead. Seidel got a takedown about a minute later but was unable to turn Forrest, cutting his lead to 4-2 going into the break.

Forrest picked up three step-out points in the second, pushing his lead to 7-2. Seidel got aggressive late, needing some big points, where Forrest was able to secure a takedown on the edge of the mat to go up 9-2 before Seidel got a takedown as time expired.

Seidel and Forrest can’t stop wrestling each other. They wrestled for a state title at the end of last season when they were both in high school. Then they wrestled in the OSU-Virginia Tech dual and in the NCAA semifinal during this past season before meeting again Thursday. All of those bouts have been competitive, but Forrest has seen his hand raised each time.

As for Davino, Forrest beat him 5-2 in the NCAA final, but Davino beat Forrest at the U.S. Open at the end of last month.

Forrest and Davino will wrestle for the right to wrestle Marcus Blaze (Penn State) at Final X for the United States’ 61 kg World Team spot. Blaze took fourth at the NCAA Championships behind Forrest, Davino and Seidel, but won the U.S. Open to secure his spot at Final X, beating Davino to do so. It’s a big game of rock-paper-scissors between those four, all of whom were freshman this past college season.

The World Team Trials finals get started at 12:30 p.m. Friday and will be streamed on Flo.

Elsewhere at the United States World Team Trials

Two other Cowboy RTC athletes competed Thursday.

Reigning NCAA champ Landon Robideau dropped a tight match in the 70 kg semis to Zain Retherford, with Retherford winning 3-2. Retherford is 30 and won a world title in 2023 and a world silver in 2022. He did his college wrestling at Penn State, winning NCAA titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. So, not too shabby a performance from Robideau in his first taste of senior-level competition.

Robideau won the U20 U.S. Open last month, meaning he still has a chance to represent the U.S. at his age level.

He’s still alive for third at this event, as well. To get to that match with Retherford, Robideau beat former Cowboy Jordan Williams 6-0. Robideau then beat Ian Parker 8-1 on the backside of the bracket and will wrestle Williams again on Friday for third. The third-place matches start at 11 a.m. Friday on Flo.

Cam Amine, a 2025 All-American Cowboy, wrestled in the 74 kg bracket. He lost a tight match to Quincy Monday, the son of OSU great Kenny Monday, 6-4 before falling to Penn State’s Joe Sealey on the backside.

Oklahoma State opens its regional with a game against Eastern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Cowgirl Stadium.

One of the decisions Gajewski will have to make is when/how much to use All-American ace Ruby Meylan.

Meylan has thrown 222 innings this season entering the regional, which ranks third nationally. It’s the most of any Power Conference pitcher with next in line being UCLA’s Taylor Tinsley, who has thrown 182 innings this year. Quick math: that’s 40 fewer innings than Meylan or coming up on six whole games.

Even with all those innings pitched, Meylan has a 2.11 ERA. She’s 27-7 this season with 205 strikeouts to just 52 walks. OSU has won 16 of the past 17 games Meylan has pitched in — a stretch that includes wins against Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.

By the sounds of it, when the Cowgirls open their regional against Eastern Illinois, Meylan will be in the circle again.

“We’ll do everything we can to win the first game — and then I’ll talk to you about it after that first game because I don’t know,” said Gajewski on the pitching plan for the weekend. “That’s how I feel. I know I tell you guys that, and there’s a good chance it’ll be Ruby in the next game. But I’ll just see how the first game goes, and then we’ll talk about it as a staff and make that decision then.

“But I think we all know who our ace is, and I want to save every bullet that I can out of her. So, I’m not planning on being here just this week. I plan on being here next week and the week after, so this is how we’ve managed this this whole time. And it’s constant communication with Ruby and making sure she’s recovery and has the tools. She’s very mature with her work and her preparation and her dedication to this craft. It’s turned into a craft for her. She came in as a pitcher, and she’s starting to become like an artist at this.”

Another dilemma Gajewski will have on his hands is putting together a lineup — it’s a dilemma in a good way.

The Cowgirls were without Tia Warsop at the Big 12 Tournament as she recovered from an oblique tweak. It sounded like Warsop wanted to play in Oklahoma City, but after Gajewski met with the team trainer and strength coach, they didn’t think it was worth the risk of potentially missing her for the Cowgirls’ NCAA run should the tweak turn into a tear.

“She’s practiced this whole week,” Gajewski said. “I know she was pretty pissed at me that I didn’t let her play over the weekend, but I didn’t think the Big 12 was that big of a deal for her to take a chance to lose her season. So, sometimes you have to make adult decisions, and I know that’s hard on people and their egos and things like that, especially people around your circle. But I plan on being the coach here for a long time, and I want to do things that represent the fact that we care about these kids, right.”

Warsop’s .349 batting average leads OSU among hitters with at least 35 at-bats this season.

So, you’d obviously like to get her back on the field, but then there’s Madison Hoffman — a redshirt freshman who is white hot at the plate. Through 26 at-bats this season, Hoffman is hitting .462 with a dozen RBIs and four homers. She played in rightfield at the Big 12 Tournament in Warsop’s place.

The Cowgirls’ DP spot is already filled with their depth at catcher. Audrey Schneidmiller earned a Big 12 All-Defensive Team honor and is hitting .320 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. Meanwhile fellow catcher Amanda Hasler has been OSU’s designated player. She’s hitting .290 with 12 home runs and a team-best 58 RBIs.

Gajewski also mentioned Jayden Jones and Montgomery Henderson as players he’d like to find a place in the lineup for. Jones played second base for the Cowgirls early in the year but has had just five at-bats since the start of April. Montgomery, a freshman, is hitting .391 through 23 at-bats this season.

So, the Cowgirls have some lineup flexibility, but that doesn’t make Gajewski’s job of telling some players they’ll have to hang out in the dugout any easier.

“It’s created some issues here, which are good issues,” Gajewski said. “You don’t sleep at night when you’re thinking about this kind of stuff, but it’s what you dream about as a coach is having depth. It’s taken us 11 years to have depth, like where we have real depth.”

A Stanford transfer, Norman announced his commitment to be a Cowboy on Thursday. He missed just about all of this past season with injury but was a national qualifier at 174 pounds as a redshirt freshman during the 2024-25 season. He went 21-6 that year and was the 18 seed at nationals.

 

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A post shared by Lorenzo Norman (@lorenzo.normann)

Norman becomes David Taylor’s second portal pickup of the offseason, joining former South Dakota State All-American Bennett Berge.

Norman wrestled just twice this past season, splitting those December matches. The loss was to Levi Haines, who went on to win his second national title. Haines won that match via a 14-4 major decision. Norman beat North Dakota State’s Tyler Secoy via a first-period pin.

Norman was really good that redshirt freshman year, starting the season 18-1 with his lone loss coming to OSU’s Dean Hamiti by a point at Cliff Keen. Hamiti would go on to win a national title that season. Norman earned the 2 seed at the ACC Championships, where he dropped his semifinal bout in sudden-victory. He then went 1-2 at nationals.

He went 9-7 while redshirting in 2023-24. He had an impressive win against Shane Griffith that season. Griffith would go on to take third at NCAAs that year and finished his college career as a four-time All-American and one-time national champ.

The Cowboys’ 174-pound spot seems to be open to competition this upcoming season. Alex Facundo manned the spot last year and returns. He went 18-8 in his first year as a Cowboy, earning the 8 seed at nationals before going 2-2. And the depth doesn’t necessarily stop there. Should Zack Ryder be healthy by the time the season rolls around, he could potentially compete for that spot, as could Kody Routledge, who is coming off a strong redshirt season at 165 pounds.

This would mark the team’s 13th consecutive regional berth under Holliday and the program’s 51st overall regional appearance. When the Cowboys hear their name called on the selection show, it seems likely they will face an SEC foe.

D1Baseball projects Oklahoma State to finish as the No. 2 seed in the Starkville, Mississippi Regional which would pit the Pokes, seeded 22nd overall, against 12th overall seed Mississippi State. OSU’s only game against the Bulldogs came last season in Houston during March when the Cowboys won 9-7.

Meanwhile, Baseball America projects the Cowboys to finish as the 25th overall seed facing off against the eighth overall seeded Florida Gators. Oklahoma State is 1-2 overall in the series with the lone win coming at home in the 2024 regional when OSU won 7-1 before dropping subsequent games 5-2 and 4-2.

Since those projections came out, the Cowboys beat Oral Roberts 12-7 to earn their sixth win in seven games. Considering ORU ranks 167th overall in RPI, and upcoming opponent Arizona ranks 189th, it’s unlikely the Pokes, currently ranked 21st by D1Baseball, can move up too much at this stage.

However, it would seem that as long as they take care of business this weekend, Oklahoma State is a heavy favorite to receive the second-highest seed wherever the Cowboys get assigned in regional play.

The Cowboys enter the final weekend of the regular season, fifth in the conference standings and seem likely to remain there barring an upset by a team with a 37% winning percentage in conference play (or worse) this weekend over either the Cowboys or another team inside the Big 12’s top five.

Oklahoma State’s most likely first-round opponent would be either Arizona State, ranked 22nd overall and 47th in RPI, or UCF unranked and 31st in RPI. The Cowboys beat the Sun Devils twice on the road just last week, but dropped all three against UCF in Orlando during mid-March.

A win over either would certainly boost the Cowboys’ postseason fates, giving them a better draw in the regional round while also extending their conference tournament.

OSU Bullets

• ESPN did a piece looking at OSU’s wild process of rebuilding the football roster – so many nuggets.

Let’s start with how Eric Morris closed on his star quarterback: 

“All right, two things,” Morris told (Drew) Mestemaker.

He reminded his star pupil what they’d just accomplished together. In Mestemaker’s first season as a college starter with North Texas, he led the nation in passing yards, operated the No. 1 scoring offense in FBS and achieved a 12-2 record, the best in school history.

“And two? Don’t break my heart.”

Morris hung up. [ESPN]

• Cowgirl Golf is headed to the NCAA Championships after finishing third at the Chapel Hill Regional (Clippd)

• Inside the Big 12’s bid to use private equity to close the gap with the Big Ten/SEC:

The Big 12’s bet is that by the time its media rights reach the open market, it won’t just be selling television inventory. With RedBird Capital infusing capital into the conference, the firm has deep ties across broadcast media and entertainment — the Big 12 expects to market a portfolio of conference-controlled commercial businesses alongside its games. [CBS Sports]

• Pokes are bringing in a defensive back for a recruiting trip this weekend to add some depth (PFB)

•  Josh Holliday got hot yesterday talking about teams cancelling games for purposes of skewing their RPI (PFB)

Non-OSU Bullets

• The Silicon Valley freshmen being groomed to rule

• Slang dictionary by Websters

Following Oklahoma State’s 12-7 victory at Oral Roberts on Tuesday night, OSU coach Josh Holliday bluntly gave his thoughts on teams canceling games late in the year seemingly to dodge those games messing with a team’s RPI. These quotes come via The Stillwegian’s Daniel Allen.

Amid the plethora of RPI-based midweek cancellations around college baseball, #OkState coach Josh Holliday called for the system to be patched.

“That pisses me off, and if we’re gonna let people (and teams) manipulate a system, then the system sucks, and it needs to be fixed.” pic.twitter.com/g8YGwt30h8

— Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 13, 2026

“I said this on the radio show, and I don’t really care who hears it or who sees it — the number of college baseball teams canceling their games today because of the RPI implications of playing a team beneath them in the RPI and the subsequent risk of penalty had you lost that game or the penalty had you won that game, I think is just an unbelievably bad look,” Holliday said. “I think the coaches that agree to do that should look in the mirror and ask themselves what kind of example they’re setting for their team.

“Had we taken that route, we would’ve cheated our team this opportunity (to play Oral Roberts) tonight. Kids had multiple-home run games, guys came through, guys gained confidence. And really quite honestly, your word should mean something. You signed a contract as an adult representing college sports. You should stand strong on your commitment, and you should be an example of what these young men should aspire to do as grownups and not take the easy way out, or manipulate a system, or come up with a really, really bad excuse.

“We just flew back from Arizona. It was 110 degrees on Sunday. We took commercial airplanes — not chartered airplanes. We don’t have as many players or as many scholarships as teams that canceled their game today. So, I just think our team today, for me, that’s the joy of coaching, the chance to get to do this. You only get so many.

“And I think for college baseball, that crap needs to stop. They sent out memo, it was on the internet, teams should play their games and we’re watching.

“So, that’s my opinion. I don’t usually have one, but I have one on that. I think as leaders and coaches, if the head coach at Oklahoma State isn’t proud enough or motivated enough to get to lead this bunch of kids over here tonight and represent our school against Oral Roberts — a conference champion, mind you — then what do you really stand for as a leader? What are you telling your players? That’s my opinion because that pisses me off. If we’re gonna let people manipulate a system, the system sucks and needs to be fixed.”

Although Holliday didn’t note any teams by name, there are plenty to point a finger at. On Tuesday alone, here are games that were canceled:

Arizona State at Grand Canyon
UMass Lowell at Boston College
Virginia Tech at Marshall
Campbell at East Carolina
Bethune Cookman at UCF
Purdue at Ball State
Pacific at CSU-Bakersfield
Northern Kentucky at Kentucky
Valparaiso at Central Michigan
Arkansas State at Arkansas-Pine Bluff

NCAA Division-I baseball oversight committee chair Michael Alford sent a memo out to Division-I coaches on May 6 regarding that matter that CSU-Bakersfield coach Jordon Banfield shared to social media.

“I wanted to let you know that we are concerned with the practice of cancelling regular season games for reasons other than inclement weather,” the memo read. “It is not the intent or spirit of the game to adjust scheduled games in an attempt to strategically impact selection data or metrics. …

“The subcommittee has kept, and will continue to keep, a watchful eye on team schedules and any known reasons for any cancellation.”

Holliday’s Cowboys sit at No. 25 in the RPI and close their regular season with a three-game series against Arizona this weekend.

Oklahoma State is set to host Youngstown State defensive back transfer Jeremiah Piper on Friday, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Piper is a grad transfer who received a waiver for an additional season of eligibility.

Listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, Piper is proficient in an area new Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris seems to value quite highly: speed. Piper boasts a 4.3 40-yard dash on his Twitter profile.

He played in just one game for the Penguins this past season.

Piper spent the 2024 season at Western Illinois, where he made 28 tackles, intercepted a pass, broke up four passes and forced a fumble, primarily playing at corner. According to PFF, Piper was targeted 35 times in 2024, where he gave up 21 catches.

Before that, Piper was at Western Michigan from 2020 to 2023, where he appeared in 14 games.

Out of Southfield, Michigan, Piper was a two-star prospect in the 2020 recruiting class, initially picking Western Michigan over offers from Akron, Ohio and Toledo. He was a high school quarterback, putting up 1,300 rushing yards and more than 200 passing yards as a senior. He also intercepted a pair of passes and made 50 tackles.

Morris has had to rebuild his first OSU roster essentially from the ground up, bringing in north of 80 new players. That obviously included a healthy haul of portal prospects.

OSU has six listed corners on the roster: returner LaDainian Fields, returner Kobi Foreman, Texas Tech transfer Mo Horn, North Texas transfer Kollin Lewis, freshman Maliek Bracy and freshman Marrel Davis III.

PFB+ Sale: ⁠PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link

OSU Bullets

• Powered by a dominant offensive showing by Kollin Ritchie and Alex Conover, the Pokes beat ORU in Tulsa 12-7 last night (PFB)

• Cowgirl Golf is in third place at the Chapel Hill Regional, going into today’s final round – a top-five finish advances them to the NCAA Tournament (OKState.com)

• New revenue figures were released for Big 12 schools, and OSU was in the top five for 2025 (X)

New EADA Grand Total Revenue for FY 2025 for Big12 schools (FY 2024 figures) :

Kansas $173.7 ($215)
Colorado $ 161.7 ($147)
TCU $ 156.0 ($142)
Ok St. $ 153.7 ($132)
BYU $ 153.4 ($130)**
ASU $ 149.3 ($127)
Baylor $ 144.1 ($148)
Arizona $ 132.7 ($139)
Texas Tech $… https://t.co/k3Hc7P24Tz pic.twitter.com/zYqoWHVCW4

— Jeff Fuller (@jjfuller72) May 11, 2026

• Cowboy Golfer Preston Stout was named a Hogan Award finalist (OKState.com)

•  No Penn State at the National Duals Invitational this winter: 

National Duals Invitational by Paycom, w/$1.2 million purse, announces 2026 field#OkState & #Sooners joined by Arizona St, UALR, Iowa St, Minnesota, Mizzou, NC State, North Carolina, Maryland, Ohio St, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Stanford, Va Tech & Wyoming

Dec. 12-13 at BOK Center pic.twitter.com/8GFPCOpXrq

— Eric Bailey (@EricBaileyTW) May 12, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Are US adults having enough fun?

• Our addiction to being remarkable (faith-based)

The Cowboys only needed eight hits to score 12 runs and they bounced back in a big way on Tuesday.

No. 21 Oklahoma State defeated Oral Roberts 12-7 in the Cowboys’ final nonconference game of the season. The Cowboys rallied after trailing 6-2 at the end of five innings before they started scoring runs in bunches.

Kollin Ritchie came in leading the Cowboys in home runs. Meanwhile, Avery Ortiz had one in just 25 at-bats after missing a chunk of the season with a groin injury.

He flipped the game in one swing.

Ortiz stepped to the plate in the sixth and drilled just his second home run of the season. It was a big one.

His sixth-inning grand slam turned a 6-4 OSU deficit to an 8-6 Cowboy lead and they never looked back.

Glad to have ya back, @averyortiz_7

Go-ahead grand slam for AO#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/WvaZh74amr

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 13, 2026

Ritchie added a solo bomb on the very next at-bat to make it 9-6 Pokes. It was not only his 28th home run of the season but was his 50th career homer making him one of only 10 Cowboys to achieve that feat.

Ritchie 🚀

Outta here in a hurry – and another milestone for @RitchieKollin #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/Nzjpr2Qnnf

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 13, 2026

Ortiz batted another one in on a double RBI down the left field line in the seventh to make it 10-6. Then in the eighth, OSU doubled ORU up with a two-run double from Remo Indomenico to make it 12-6. He finished 3-4 with five RBI.

ORU cut into that lead with a run in the bottom of the eighth but the Cowboys closed it out with in the ninth thanks to some stingy pitching by Jake Kennedy.

While the pair of Ortiz and Ritchie may capture the headlines for the rally, it was Alex Conover who got the Cowboys on the board. He had a solo homer in the first and second innings before ORU scored four-straight over the third and fourth.

Zane Burns got the start from the mound for the Pokes but gave up those four early runs in four innings pitched. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two. Parker Jennings only lasted part of an inning and gave up two runs in his three at-bats faced.

Kennedy earned the win, clamping down on the Golden Eagles who had scored six runs in the previous two innings. He held ORU scoreless for the sixth and seventh while OSU’s bats took over. He allowed a single run in four innings and only two hits. Kennedy walked two and struck out four, including the final two ORU batters to seal the win.

This win comes off a loss to No. 16 Arizona State which broke a five-game winning streak (though the Cowboys still took that series) and give them some momentum as they head into their final weekend.

The Cowboys improve to 34-18 and have won six of the last seven ahead of a home series beginning against Arizona at 6 p.m. Thursday with other games scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday and 12 p.m. Saturday.

“I said, ‘Hey, it’s cool to look at that top eight and know that you beat four of them,” coach Kenny Gajewski said. “It’s cool to look at this whole bracket and go we beat a lot of them.’ That’s why we played this schedule.”

The Cowgirls finished 3-1 against the top four overall seeds including wins over Texas, Oklahoma and 1-1 split against Nebraska which is particularly relevant considering the winner of the Stillwater regional matches up with the winner of the Lincoln (Nebraska) regional in the Supers.

For context, only seven other teams in the country can claim multiple wins against the top four seeds this season including top seeds Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma.

The other four are No. 2 seed Arkansas (4-5 against top 4), No. 2 seed Tennessee (3-1) , No. 3 seed Georgia (3-6), No. 4 seed Texas A&M (2-5). Only the Volunteers and Cowgirls can claim a 75% winning percentage against the teams favored to make up half of the field in OKC.

The Cowgirls also went 6-3 overall against the top 16 seeds in the bracket and 17-12 against the overall field.

With that resume backing the team up, Gajewski said he felt confident Oklahoma State would receive a high enough seed to host a regional before the announcement on Sunday made it official. Of course, that confidence did nothing to diminish the joy of the moment for the Cowgirls.

“Never gets old to see your name being called and to see your kids jump up and scream and holler,” Gajewski said. “It’s really cool, and it’s why you coach. It’s why you do these kind of things for these type of moments. It reminded me of our first year here, when we didn’t know if we were in or not.”

The coach said the team had some hard conversations at the end of last year when the Cowgirls failed to secure a sixth consecutive trip to the Women’s College World Series after a frustrating loss on the road in the regional round.

Around the middle of the season, it seemed like the Cowgirls might spend the regional round on the road once again before the team caught fire winning 17 of its final 21 games.

“We been in the postseason now for a while,” Gajewski said, almost certainly referring to his team’s mindset down the stretch. “We’ve had to play like that for a while to probably to grab one of these seeds, right. And so we know that. That’s why I feel so good about these guys, because these are just games, man.”

Oklahoma State enters the postseason on a one-game losing streak after falling to Arizona State 11-7 in the conference semifinals.

While not the result he wanted, Gajewski was encouraged by his team’s refusal to give up after falling behind 6-1 after only two innings.

“I told them at the end of the Arizona State game how proud I was of them after we just got our butts kicked, but we fought our tails off like we did something that we hadn’t done yet,” Gajewski said. “Like we fought when we were down like that. Not saying that we haven’t come back and won, but it was an easy moment for this team to just lay down and go, okay, let’s just go home and get some rest. They got themselves up in the middle of that game in front of everybody in the stands, kind of made a decision to fight no matter what.”

On Friday, Oklahoma State opens regional play against Eastern Illinois with matchups against one or both of Stanford and Princeton to follow. These are the games that Gajewski and the Cowgirls prepare for all season.

“I told them at the end of that game (against Arizona State), I didn’t recruit you here to win Big 12s,” Gajewski said. “We never even talked about that. Wasn’t even, never mentioned it. Do I want to win that? Do we want to win those games? Yeah, we want to win those, we want to win everything.

“But I would trade all those things to get to OKC, because that’s the only chance you have to win the final game, the only chance. … Going to OKC to try to win the last game, that’s the only thing that we’re about here. I think they feel the same way, but that’s kind of how we talk. So it just feels good. It’s an easier road when you host. We’ve done it all ways, but I’m thankful to be here, to be in front of our fans, to do things that we set out to do.”

Not that it was ever in much doubt, but on Tuesday, National Duals announced the field for the 2026 event, which is Dec. 12 and 13 and the BOK Center. Here are the 16 teams that will compete ordered by their NCAA Championships finish this past season:

Oklahoma State
Ohio State
Stanford
Iowa State
Minnesota
NC State
Virginia Tech
Wyoming
Arizona State
Missouri
Little Rock
Pitt
Oklahoma
North Carolina
Maryland
Rutgers

The 16 programs have combined for 54 NCAA team titles and more than 400 individual crowns in their histories.

The winning team will leave Tulsa with $250,000 — a $50,000 increase from last year — while the teams that finish second and third will each earn $175,000. Fourth and fifth will take home $100,000, and sixth through eighth will get $40,000, $25,000 and $20,000, respectively. Each team gets $20,000 for attending, and there will be $50,000 in takedown bonuses awarded.

“Seeing this caliber of programs commit so quickly reinforces what we’re building in Tulsa,” said Matt Surber, tournament director and father of former Cowboy Luke Surber. “The National Duals Invitational is bringing together some of the most historic programs to compete for significant prize money in the exciting duals format. We expect this tournament to continue elevating the sport of college wrestling.”

It’s a Big 12-heavy field with six of the 16 schools coming from the Cowboys’ conference. The field also includes five ACC squads and four Big Ten teams. Little Rock is the lone team outside of those three conferences in the event.

Ohio State won the event last year and returns to defend their crown. That group will be led by 133-pounder Ben Davino, who wrestled Jax Forrest in the national final this past season.

The Cowboys took third at this event last season, falling to Iowa in the semis. But the Hawkeyes aren’t in this year’s field. Given how hot the Cowboys finished the season and the fact that they return almost everyone, OSU will likely be the favorite come December.

Another squad that ought to be right in the mix is Virginia Tech with a lineup that’ll likely include two-time All-American Eddie Ventresca, third-place finisher Aaron Seidel, national champ Caleb Henson and superstar freshman Bo Bassett.

Tickets for the event go on sale May 26.

Brayden White put out his Top 6 on Monday: Oklahoma State, Stanford, Houston, Vanderbilt, Baylor and Minnesota. Out of Shepherd, Texas — a town of about 2,000 northeast of Houston — White is the No. 833 player in the 247Sports Composite ranking for the 2027 class. 247Sports tabs him as the No. 70 defensive lineman in the cycle and a Top 80 Texan.

Is it #GoStanford🌲? #GoCoogs🐾? #SicEm🟢🟡? #AnchorDown⚓️? #GoPokes🤠? or #RTB🚣‍♀️? pic.twitter.com/DR1tlkvN3Y

— Brayden White (@BDoubl3U) May 12, 2026

Oklahoma State offered White back in February, and he took an unofficial to Stillwater in March. White has locked in an official visit starting June 18. He also has visits scheduled to Stanford (May 22), Houston (May 28), Baylor (June 5) and Vandy (June 11).

MaxPreps had White with 24 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks in nine games as a junior. He also had an interception and a forced fumble. Being a smalltown kid, White plays both ways. He caught seven passes for 118 yards and four TDs as a tight end.

Listed at 6-foot-3, 280 pounds, White might project as an interior lineman long term, but he’s athletic enough to do some different things. He lined up as a three technique and a traditional defensive end as a junior.

Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris is a big believer in multisport athletes. White also plays basketball at Shepherd. According to MaxPreps, he averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds a game this past season after averaging 21.9 points and 12.2 boards a game as a sophomore. A defensive lineman who hoops.

Oklahoma State has one commit in its 2027 class to this point in quarterback Carson White. It shouldn’t be long until that number starts to increase, though. OSU has more than 20 official visits scheduled over the next few months.

OSU Bullets

• Bummer to read – Cowboy great Desmond Mason was recently arrested on theft charges (News9)

• Cowgirl Golf is eight strokes back at the Chapel Hill Regional through one day (Clippd)

• How Cowgirl ace Ruby Meylan has grown and matured this year is impressive – balancing competing and pushing others and encouraging (PFB)

• The Pokes are looking at a 174-pounder to transfer in from Stanford, secured a visit (PFB)

• What a turnaround for Josh Holliday and Co.

🆕 to the Poll@OSUBaseball @GoBearcatsBASE #NCAABaseball pic.twitter.com/gzQAI8onEW

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 11, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Try ‘longstorming’ if you’re getting overstimulated AKA get outside more

• The benefits of floor sitting

The portal closed to new entrants at the end of last month, but wrestlers already in the portal can still come out of it. One of those guys still in the portal is Stanford transfer Lorenzo Norman. On FloWrestling Radio Live on Monday, Flo’s Christian Pyles noted that Norman is down to three options.

“Norman sounds like he’s down to three teams: Oklahoma State, Penn State and Ohio State,” Pyles said. “… For Oklahoma State, they did not get a lot of production out of 174 last year. Now, what can Norman do is a question, but every time you watch him, there’s really something there offensively. If he could put the matches together, he’s pretty dangerous.”

Norman wrestled just two matches this past season, missing the rest of the year with injury, but he was a national qualifier at 174 pounds as a redshirt freshman in 2025. He went 2-2 at that tournament, putting up an impressive fight against soon-to-be runner-up Keegan O’Toole in a match Norman dropped 10-8. Norman finished that redshirt freshman season at 21-6. He wrestled DJ Hamiti at the Cliff Keen that year, with Hamiti winning 4-3.

While redshirting during the 2023-24 season, Norman went 9-7. That included a 14-7 win against former OSU wrestler Brayden Thompson at Cliff Keen.

Alex Facundo was the Cowboys’ starter at 174 this past season. He went 18-8 and 2-2 at the NCAA Championships, being one of two Cowboys to not finish on the podium. So, if there’s one spot the Cowboys could further shore up, it’s there.

David Taylor has shown early in his tenure that he prefers to recruit blue-chippers from the high school ranks, but he’s also had success with transfers. Hamiti and Wyatt Hendrickson each won national titles after transferring to OSU. Transfers Caleb Fish, Cam Amine, Casey Swiderski and Zack Ryder have all also reached the podium under Taylor.

OSU has taken just one transfer this offseason in South Dakota State transfer Bennett Berge, who is expected to compete for the Cowboys’ 184-pound spot this upcoming season.

Cooper Hooker announced an Oklahoma State offer on Monday. The 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster is set to transfer to Pryor for his senior season after having previously played at Salina.

Beyond Blessed to receive my 13th D1 offer from Oklahoma State University 🤠🤠‼️@__CoachMorris @CoachEdwardsWR @derekrasmussen @Coach_DavisPHS @coach_hadac @CoachPugh317 @samspiegs @BrandonHuffman @Bdrumm_Rivals @ParkerThune @TheUCReport @Sooner7v7 @WesDr8ke @klose_trey… pic.twitter.com/4B41CqT4p4

— Cooper Hooker⚡️ (@coophook1) May 11, 2026

Hooker was lasered with a 4.44 40-yard dash in March at an Under Armour event while clocking a 4.38 shuttle.

After missing the 2024 season with a broken fibula, Hooker didn’t miss a beat when he returned this past season. He caught 50 balls for 850 yards and 15 touchdowns and scored 22 total TDs in his junior season.

Salina went 10-2, falling in the second round of the 2A-II playoffs.

Although he’s unranked for the time being, Hooker has a healthy offer list that also includes Texas State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and others.

Checking more boxes that Morris likes, Hooker is a multi-sport athlete who also excels on the baseball diamond. He was a switch-hitting shortstop for Salina this season, batting .467 with five homers.

The Cowboys have a lone commit in their 2027 class in quarterback Carson White. OSU is the only Big 12 program without multiple 2027 commits at this point, but it isn’t that they’re so far behind, as seven teams in the league have three or fewer commits.

Hendrickson won his second straight gold at the Pan-American Championships this weekend, and just like last year, he ended the festivities with some flare.

He matched up with Canada’s Jorawar Dhinsa in the final, who … is a large man. It’s not super normal for heavyweights to be at the weight limit of 125 kg (about 276 pounds), but Hendrickson said he saw Dhinsa cutting weight the night before.

Dhinsa looked to be about a head taller than Hendrickson. But early in the match, Hendrickson wrapped Dhinsa in a standing body lock, lifted the larger man off the ground, and tossed him over his head. The four-point maneuver that drew an audible gasp from those in attendance in Coralville, Iowa.

Not to be outdone, Dhinsa hit Hendrickson with an arm throw shortly after the restart to tie the bout at 4. Dhinsa then went for another big throw before Hendrickson was able to stuff it and momentarily put the Canadian on his back. Hendrickson would hit another four-pointer. Dhinsa went for a desperation throw late in the period, but Hendrickson anticipated it, caught his foe on his back and pinned him.

There simply aren’t boring Hendrickson matches.

That was one of three matches Hendrickson won en route to his second Pan-Am gold. He also pinned Mexico’s Brandon Flores in 30 seconds and teched Brazil’s Gabriel De Sousa Silva in 53 seconds.

Hendrickson was one of two Cowboy RTC athletes to take gold at the event, joining 2025 World Champ Zahid Valencia. Valencia didn’t give up a point in his three bouts, beating the Dominican Republic’s Christopher Foca Mejia in the final.

Both Cowboy RTC athletes are prepping for Final X, which is June 19 in New Jersey, where they’ll wrestle a best-of-three series for a spot on the United States World Team.

“People didn’t like to be my teammate, and they were honest with me,” Ruby said. “Like, if I was pitching well, I’m the best teammate in the world. And if I’m not pitching well, it’s like hard to get behind me.”

Meylan didn’t elaborate whether these harsh truths came from fellow Cowgirls, her teammates at Washington, or perhaps both. Meylan chose to share this story during a conversation with reporters that focused heavily on her first career no-hitter back in February.

When she chose to pivot the conversation, Meylan fought off tears, but she didn’t fight the accusations those teammates confronted her with in the past.

“I was super emotional. … I think if you’re emotionally attached to results, the game’s a roller coaster,” Meylan said. “And you can ride the wave, and it makes it hard to be a good teammate, a good friend, a good softball player because you’re constantly in your own dome.”’

An elite softball player

Oklahoma State is back on familiar ground on Friday, when the Cowgirls host an NCAA regional after snapping a five-season streak of home regionals last year, when the team went on the road in the first round of postseason play and lost, which also ended the five-season streak of Women’s College World Series appearances.

Although familiar ground for the Cowgirls, this seeding would have been somewhat surprising at the midpoint of the season before Meylan and her teammates brought the team’s chances of hosting postseason play seemingly back from the dead, highlighted by an especially tough stretch against then-No. 1 Oklahoma and then-No. 4 Texas sandwiched around a weekend series against then-No 16 Arizona.

Meylan powered the program to wins over both former conference rivals and two wins against the Wildcats, striking out 22-of-125 batters faced (17.6%) while giving up only 11 earned runs across the four games.

Oklahoma Sooners coach Patty Gasso described Meylan as one of the best pitchers her team has seen this year, high praise considering the gauntlet her own group faced.

“Deception,” said Gasso, highlighting what makes Meylan elite. “She throws hard, but we were chasing pitches, and then that’s what she’s good at. It’s throwing balls out of the zone to make you swing at changing speeds. She’s throwing up, she’s going down, she’s changing speeds. It’s tough. It’s tough to square her up. And she was on one today. You can see that she was ready for this game. And that’s what competitors do. They step up in those big games.”

Although that’s never really been an issue for Meylan, her personal growth shone during an especially tough week, when she threw 499 total pitches.

Oklahoma State coach Kenny Gajewski was walking past her ahead of the series finale against the Wildcats when Ruby flagged him down.

“She goes, ‘Hey, I’m gonna, I need you to stay with me here today,’” Gajewski recalled. “And she goes, ‘I’m exhausted,’ and I can see, like I could see her eyes kind of welled up, and I said, ‘Ruby, we got you like you just give us what you can. We’ll take care of you. I promise you we got you.’ We talked through that. Last year, I’m just telling you, it would have been a meltdown.”

Gajewski has talked at length about the changes he’s seen out of Meylan in just the last year alone. It became one of the defining talking points of his introductory press conference this season.

When that pivotal game against Arizona finally began, things couldn’t have started much worse for Meylan and the Cowgirls, who gave up four runs in the first inning.

“I just heard her say, ‘Hey, just get give me a couple back, and I got you guys,’” Gajewski said. “And we ended up getting four. And it like, gave her this reset, and it was really cool to be able to watch and see. … Her emotional growth is something to talk about. It is just so incredible how she’s grown.”

Her father, Wayne Meylan, found himself admiring his daughter’s growth exactly one week earlier after Ruby gave up a two-run home run in the fifth inning at Iowa State. Instead of run-ruling the Cyclones that inning, the Cowgirls had to go the distance with them in a series that felt equally critical at the time, given the aforementioned challenging upcoming slate.

“After the game, we were sitting right behind home plate, and she (Ruby) walked by, and she goes ‘I just didn’t want to stop playing at five innings, I want to play seven today,’” Wayne said. “And I just kinda shook my head, but that is something in the past that probably would eat her alive.”

Learning to let go of the losses from an emotional standpoint was the key. Not that she had much practice lately, as Meylan powered the team to 16-straight wins in games she pitched before snapping the streak in a loss to Arizona State in the conference semifinals on Friday night. That extended run of success no doubt played a huge part in Meylan’s recent Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honor.

“I think once you can separate the emotional connection to result, you start to see your full potential,” Meylan said.

Later in the same conversation, Meylan circled back to the topic of separating emotions from individual game results and added, “I think I’ve shifted that. And whether I pitch good or bad, I love them (her teammates), and I want to be there for them, and they don’t really care about the result of how I pitch. They care about how I treat them.”

A good teammate

Her parents noticed a difference in their daughter early on this season. Her mom, Heidi Meylan, even asked what changed.

“She goes, ‘we enjoy playing ball together,’” her father said, recounting Ruby’s response. “I think she recognized … she has some responsibility for herself. It is not always someone else’s fault, or it is not this person is not doing it right. And she has to be a better teammate.”

Multiple Cowgirls interviewed described a much different ace than the one they had last season.

“I feel like she’s a whole different person in the circle this year because she’s so focused,” junior Rosie Davis said. “But at the same time, she’s able to, like, laugh some things off, and so, like, I think that just helps her overall mindset as just going into games, it’s like it’s all right to mess up. You’re gonna mess up. Let’s just get back right to focus.”

Karli Godwin makes it sound like Meylan’s growth has inspired a similar process in her own life.

“She’s really good for me,” Godwin said. “Because in some sense, we had some of the same qualities. Like when things aren’t going well, you’re not in the best mood, and she’s always the first person that comes up to me and just pats me on the back, or tells me good job, or that I’m going to be all right. So it’s been really nice, and I think it’s only helped her in the circle.”

Senior Lexi McDonald is living with Meylan this season, which has given her a front-row seat to the changes the senior pitcher made in her life.

“I think she is a far better teammate than she was last year,” McDonald said. “I think she’s a far better person. She’s just grown as a human, and I think that is with her relationship with Jesus. And I think it’s really cool to watch.”

Her former high school coach, Keith Engelkamp, can’t always get out to watch her in person, but he sees a huge difference in her demeanor even when watching Ruby on TV.

“I think Ruby is having a lot more fun,” he said. “I see her giving a lot more high fives. … Even when she talks with me (on the phone) I think she is less stressed.”

A great Cowgirl

Like most elite players, Ruby has long dreamed of winning the big one in OKC. Shortly after last season ended, Ruby made the decision to back that dream up with money out of her own pocket if it helped the team.

“(She) said, ‘If you need anything I have back, just tell me,’” Gajewski said, recalling Meylan’s offer to rework her deal with OSU. “I don’t think you’re going to find too many kids around the country that are willing to give back anything that they have for the team.

“I challenge you to find that, and I have kind of kept that down because I just, I try to protect my whole program in a way. But, we talk about the leadership and all that kind of stuff, that’s leadership in a different way, right? That’s maturity, that’s growth.”

She made the offer without consulting either parent, who didn’t learn about that display of maturity until much later.

Speaking of her mom, Heidi said she’s particularly in awe of the bond Ruby formed with pitching coach Carrie Eberle Parker and the uncharacteristic way she responds to the assistant coach during games.

“Carrie is hard on her, and Ruby needs that, and she responds to it,” Heidi said. “And I don’t know if it’s that they’re closer in age than what she’s had in the past or what, but they really click well. … I see the respect that Ruby has for her every time Carrie goes out on that field to talk to her during innings, and I just watch Ruby’s face, and she just, she just shakes her head yes, like, ‘Yes ma’am, yes ma’am.’ It’s kind of cool.”

But Heidi’s also enjoyed watching her daughter learn how to be a better, often more understanding leader, while finding a wealth of support both inside the program and around Stillwater.

“When she goes into Sprouts, and she runs into people from the university or fans or whatever, that is really cool for an athlete to have that support. … In Seattle, there was none of that,” Heidi said. “No one knew who she was on campus even, not even the students. It was just too big. … That means a lot when people support you, and that is what Stillwater is.”

Ruby said for so long she focused her energy on chasing stats, awards or even her dream of winning a national championship. She’d be lying if she said none of that stuff mattered now, but all of it matters so much less compared with her new perspective on the sport and, really, life itself.

“Whether this game goes good or bad, like, I know they love me,” said Meylan, referring to her teammates. “My parents love me. I have a fiancé that loves me. God loves me, so like, I can’t earn that.

“Like, whether I pitch good or bad, I might piss our fans off (when she pitches poorly), but like, at the end of the day, they love me too. So, yeah, results are just results. And again, you can’t be tied to them, or else you’re gonna sink in. This game isn’t a forgiving game, like you either have it or you don’t, and once you go down, it’s hard to come back up.”

OSU Bullets

• Cowgirl Softball finished as a top-fifteen seed nationally, will host a regional this weekend in Stillwater (PFB)

Staying in Stilly 😏

Our postseason journey will begin in Stillwater 🤠#GoPokes | @OSUAthletics pic.twitter.com/fC0gl9WOon — OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 10, 2026

• Pokes couldn’t rally to take out the Sun Devils, losing in Tempe, 7-11 (OKState.com)

• Rickie Fowler came close to getting a W after losing his commanding lead through three rounds:

Fowler shot 65 on Sunday after a closing bogey, which left him two strokes behind the champion, Kristoffer Reitan. Fowler finished at 13-under 271 (74-63-69-65), an impressive finish after struggling with a sinus infection and fever in the first round.

Fowler’s score of 16-under 197 over the final three rounds at Quail Hollow was the best in the field by six shots. [PGATour.com]

• Thoughts on why Big 12 teams are turning down the loan from the Big 12’s partnership (X)

• Gosh, it’d be miserable to try and wrestle this guy:

Wyatt Hendrickson just launched Canada with a massive 5-point throw on his way to Pan-Am gold at 125 kg. Hendrickson wins by fall and rolls through the bracket for Team USA. pic.twitter.com/uzr6QAiMx2

— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) May 10, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• You can be great at (nearly) anything, just not everything • Plenty of mock drafts still have the Thunder taking the Michigan big/wing Yaxel Landenborg

How can you not be romantic about basketball? Watching your friend/protege catch a break has to be fun:

Sam Presti (seated at the end of the 2nd row) looked happy and smiled towards Michael Winger as Washington was called for the first pick.

Winger was Presti’s assistant GM from 2010 to 2017 before leaving to work for the Clippers. pic.twitter.com/Gu9bPcdoBc — Wizards Film Room (@KevinFolliNBA) May 10, 2026

Oklahoma State was named the 13 seed in the NCAA Softball Tournament on Sunday evening. Eastern Illinois, Princeton and Stanford will join OSU in Stillwater this weekend, with the Cowgirls opening against Eastern Illinois.

The winner of the Stillwater Regional will be matched up with the winner of the Nebraska Regional in a Super. OSU and Nebraska played twice this season, splitting the games.

Stanford is the Stillwater Regional’s 2 seed. OSU and Stanford played twice at the beginning of this season, with Stanford beating OSU 4-2 and 10-0. So, needless to say, the Cowgirls will have to be on their A game, but it’s also fair to say the Cowgirls are playing their best softball right now.

Action starts Friday. Here’s a look a quick breakdown of the Stillwater Regional.

Oklahoma State

Record: 38-15
Conference (Big 12) Finish: 2
Team Batting Average: .313
Team ERA: 3.30

The Cowgirls played some of their best softball late in the year, picking up wins against Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona (x2) since April 15. They fell in the semifinal of the Big 12 tournament to an Arizona State team that got hot and won the whole thing.

This season, the Cowgirls have wins against NCAA Regional hosts UCLA, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas A&M and Texas. So, they should have confidence going in.

Ruby Meylan is where this team starts. The Cowgirls’ All-American pitcher has a 2.11 ERA this season on 222 innings pitched.

Claire Timm, Rosie Davis and Amanda Hasler all have at least 30 RBIs this season while Tia Warsop, Audrey Schneidmiller, Karli Godwin and Aubrey Jones all have at least 20.

Stanford

Record: 37-13
Conference (ACC) Finish: 4
Team Batting Average: .326
Team ERA: 3.63

The Cardinal fell in the semifinal of the ACC Tournament, essentially matching their 4 seed at the event. Stanford finished the season en fuego, entering its conference tournament on a 14-game winning streak.

Senior outfielder Emily Jones leads the team with  a .404 batting averaged and 59 hits. Taryn Kern leads Stanford with 44 RBIs, 66 runs scores and 18 home runs.

Zoe Prystajko is the Cardinal’s ace. She’s 20-5 this season with a 2.50 ERA and 198 strikeouts. Alyssa Houston has thrown 58 1/3 innings and has a 2.88 ERA while Anna Brewer has tossed 73 2/3 innings with a 4.56 ERA.

Princeton

Record: 33-13
Conference (Ivy) Finish: 1
Team Batting Average: .353
Team ERA: 3.10

The Tigers dominated the Ivy, going 18-3 in conference games before going on to win the league’s tournament. In terms of games against high-major competition, Princeton lost to North Carolina 5-2 on Feb. 21. The Tigers fell to Grand Canyon, another team in the NCAA field, 7-4 in March.

Graciela Dominguez leads the Tigers with a .435 batting average and 67 hits. They’re a pretty deep team, with 11 players hitting better than .300 this season.

Cassidy Shaw is the team’s ace with a 2.57 ERA, with Reece Uehara (2.92) and Brielle Wright (3.36) providing relief.

Eastern Illinois

Record: 36-21
Conference (Ohio Valley) Finish: 1
Team Batting Average: .298
Team ERA: 4.09

The Panthers cruised through the Ohio Valley, going 23-3 in the league during the regular season before winning the conference tournament. EIU played Arizona and Arizona State in February, losing 8-0 and 9-5, respectively.

Lizzie Stiverson is hitting a team-best .376 with 42 runs scored and 29 RBIs. Sophia Olman has driven in 42 runs and has nine homers.

Three Panther pitchers have thrown north of 100 innings this season. Bryanna French has thrown 114 1/3 with a 3.55 ERA. Rylan Gick has thrown 117 1/3 innings with a 3.94 ERA and Karlie McKenzie has thrown 109 1/3 with a 4.16 ERA.

OSU Bullets

• OSU wins third-straight Big 12 series. This one at No. 16 Arizona State. [PFB]

• Pretty neat from Dez Bryant on Dez Bryant Jr., who reported an Oklahoma State offer last week.

How you work is how you determine how great you want to see yourself. I compete with myself intentionally. I remember my first moments in Stillwater. A lot of people..including certain teammates..misjudged my confidence for cockiness. I made sure to introduce myself the right… pic.twitter.com/y1j0dseOsP

— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) May 9, 2026

• Cade dropped 27 but the Pistons fell in Game 3 at Cleveland. They’ll look to rebound and take a commanding 3-1 lead on Monday. Coming in, Cade’s 30.6 points per game this postseason led all players in the postseason. But he did have a couple late turnovers that drew online ire. 

• Another Nolan McLean appreciation post. 

McLean’s stuff is outrageous 😳 pic.twitter.com/NMGfW2n9en

— New York Mets (@Mets) May 9, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• How stress affects our bodies on a practical level. [Big Think]

• Wow.

🚨JANITOR THROW ALERT 🚨 pic.twitter.com/7gwUp23Hqs

— Kent Murphy (@KentMurphy) May 9, 2026

• okay… 😏

I can’t stop laughing at this😭😭 pic.twitter.com/FgLeXwP5ad

— Kaden (@PlayoffKaden) May 9, 2026

The Cowboys are getting hot at the right time.

No. 25 Oklahoma State defeated No. 16 Arizona State 13-6 on Saturday to secure the Cowboys’ third-straight Big 12 series victory following a dramatic rally win on Friday night.

A day after a six-run ninth inning gave them the win, a six-run fourth put the Cowboys in control on the way to their fifth conference series win.

Trailing 3-2 after three, Colin Brueggemann drilled his 13th homer of the year, a two-run bomb, to give the Cowboys the lead.

A brief pause…

We took a batter off, but then @aidanmeola1 decided he wanted to hear some more Gap Band#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/ST1wLH7ySM

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 10, 2026

Then Alex Conover and Brock Thompson added solo home runs before Aidan Meola capped the inning with his own two-run moonshot.

A brief pause…

We took a batter off, but then @aidanmeola1 decided he wanted to hear some more Gap Band#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/ST1wLH7ySM

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 10, 2026

The Cowboys held the Sun Devils off with three more in the eighth and two in the ninth to cruise to a 13-6 win. Stormy Rhodes earned the win pitching five innings and allowing 10 hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out two.

With the win, OSU improves to 33-17 and 16-10 in conference play. They’ll get the chance for the sweep at 3 p.m. Sunday in Phoenix.

The Cowboys have now won seven-straight Big 12 games and nine of their last 10 overall. They currently rank fourth in the conference standings.

After this series concludes, the Pokes have a midweek matchup at Oral Roberts before closing out the regular season with a home series against Arizona starting Thursday before the Big 12 Tournament commences May 20 at Surprise Stadium in Surprise, Arizona.

Three Thoughts

• The Cowgirls struggled to get back into the game last night, losing 11-7 to Arizona State, ending the girls’ run in the conference tournament, while the Pokes rallied to beat ranked Arizona State on the road, 9-6 (PFB)

• It’s reasonable for these framing conversations to start popping up – Mike Gundy’s era rewrote the Cowboy record books (PFB)

• OSU isn’t taking a $30m high-interest loan from a conference partner – instead, here’s how they’re looking to cut expenses and increase revenue:

To try to level that playing field as much as possible, (Chad) Weiberg said OSU has asked all of its programs to cut expenses by 10%, OSU has increased ticket prices and the Boys From Oklahoma concerts have also helped with that. It’s an uphill battle, but Weiberg noted that OSU has had to compete with the likes of Texas, one of the highest-funded athletic departments in the country, for years. [PFB]

Two Quotes

• Excellent work by Josh Holliday and Co. turning around this season:

In its latest Projected Field of 64, @d1baseball has #OkState (31-17, 14-10 Big 12) as a 2-seed in Texas A&M’s regional.

The Cowboys — 10-3 over their last 13 — are scorching hot heading into May. Nothing new here. https://t.co/OcL2D1A06p pic.twitter.com/hRntX2dztC — Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 5, 2026

• This is so fascinating – was there just a donor who was super interested in women’s basketball? For OSU to own the portal in two non-revenue sports (wrestling and women’s basketball) is super unique in this day and age.

𝙏𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨! The nation’s No. 1 portal class according to ESPN resides in Stillwater! 🔗 https://t.co/xQg8z8pAF5#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/3WHnLrbmWb

— OSU Cowgirl Basketball (@OSUWBB) May 6, 2026

One Question

• Random hypothetical – if OSU took the high-interest loan ($30M @ 10%?) and paid it out to the best college basketball team they could buy with the money – do you think it would produce more than $33M in revenue that otherwise wouldn’t be created?

Non-OSU Bullets

• The Thunder has a 7.1% chance at getting a top-four pick (and a 1.5% chance of number one overall) in tomorrow’s lottery • Fight sin by feasting on God’s goodness (faith-based)

Oklahoma State came back to beat Arizona State 9-6 on Friday night in Tempe thanks to a ninth-inning rally.

The Cowboys went into the frame down 6-3 before ripping off six runs within their final two outs

It started with a Colin Brueggemann one-out double. Brady Francisco came on as a pinch runner and was able to advance to third on a wild pitch. Francisco scored when Avery Ortiz grounded into a fielder’s choice. The throw was errant, and Ortiz finished the play on second.

Remo Indomenico came on as Ortiz’s pinch runner and moved to third on an infield single from Alex Conover.

Idomenico scored on a Brock Thompson sac fly to left to cut Arizona State’s lead to 6-5.

That brought up white hot Kollin Ritchie, who the Sun Devils promptly intentionally walked, but that brought up almost an equally hot Aidan Meola.

Meola drilled the second pitch he saw off the wall in left, scoring Conover to tie the game.

Then Campbell Smithwick turned the tie into a lead with a three-run shot to straightaway center. It was his eighth homer of the year.

POKES ON TOP!!!

Soup delivers in the desert#GoPokes | @campbellrsoup pic.twitter.com/DLRnnaFp4o

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 9, 2026

Mario Pesca came on to close things out in the bottom of the frame. Then things got a little dicey.

Pesca got back-to-back popups for the first two outs before Dean Toigo singled. Austen Roellig then chopped a ball into no-man’s land between Pesca, second baseman Garrett Shull and shortstop Brock Thompson. Thompson got to it first but fired wide of first-base substitute Evan Saunders. Toigo advanced to third, and Roellig was safe at first.

That brought the tying run to the plate in Dominic Smaldino, who was a home run shy of the cycle. But Pesca got the out he needed, striking Smaldino out to give the Cowboys their seventh straight Big 12 win.

The Cowboys are up to 32-17 on the season and 15-10 in the league. It’s been quite the turnaround as OSU has navigated all sorts of injuries to go from the NCAA Tournament bubble to surely being in the field at this point.

OSU’s series with the Sun Devils continues at 8 p.m. (Central) Saturday. It’ll be televised on ESPN2.

Oklahoma State dropped its Big 12 Tournament semifinal to Arizona State on Friday night 11-7. The Cowgirls’ All-American ace drew the start but lasted just 1 1/3 innings before exiting having given up six runs (five earned) on six hits.

All six of those runs came in the second inning. With two runners on, Brooklyn Ulrich singled to center, scoring the game’s first run before a Tiare Ho-Ching single scored another.

Tanya Windle took the inning from bad to worse for the Cowgirls with a three-run home run to center to make it 5-0. Then a few errors later, it was 6-0 and Meylan headed to the dugout.

If anyone can be forgiven for having such an outing, it’s Meylan. The Cowgirls had won the past 16 games she had thrown in, with most of those being the full game. It’s the most runs she’s given up in an outing since allowing seven against Arizona on April 17. OSU won that game in 10 innings.

RyLee Crandall came out of the Cowgirls’ bullpen and initially held things steady, allowing OSU to creep back into the ball game, but then ASU started making solid contact on her, as well.

The fifth inning saw ASU plate four more runs and take a 10-2 lead.

But then the Cowgirls started truly fighting back. OSU matched the Sun Devils’ four runs in the fifth with RBIs from Karli Godwin, Lexi McDonald and Amanda Hasler (x2).

McDonald was good all evening, as the former Silo standout finished 3-for-4 at the dish with a run scored and an RBI. Godwin, Hasler and Audrey Schneidmiller each had two hits.

The Cowgirls entered the bottom of the seventh down 11-6 when Rosie Davis led the frame off with a solo shot, her 14th home run of the season.

Rosie’s 1⃣4⃣th long ball of the year gets one more back for the Pokes #GoPokes | @_RoseDavis2023 https://t.co/DW3rXtswOY pic.twitter.com/1vtPGzpZpE

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 9, 2026

But that’d be all the Cowgirls got in the inning.

OSU coach Kenny Gajewski said after Thursday’s game he felt the Cowgirls had done enough over recent weeks to earn one of the 16 hosting spots in the NCAA Regional round. We’ll learn if Gajewksi is right in his assumption on Sunday when the selection show airs at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

In case you missed it last week, the Big 12 approved a five-year agreement with RedBird Capital Partners, becoming the first conference to have a league-wide, private capital deal.

The deal provides the Big 12 with a $12.5 million capital infusion while the league’s institutions have the opportunity to opt into a $30 million credit line that would have to be paid back with a “double-digit” interest rate, according to ESPN.

It doesn’t sound like many (if any) schools will take RedBird up on that deal, and that includes Oklahoma State. OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg spoke with Dave Hunziker in a podcast that released Friday, where Weiberg cleared things up from the OSU side of things.

“First of all, I give commissioner (Brett) Yormark a lot of credit for providing opportunities to the schools to look at,” Weiberg said. “He is an innovator. He pushes the envelope. He’s not afraid of trying new things to better the conference and all the member institutions. So, I think there’s a little bit of a misconception on this. This isn’t a private equity deal. There’s no ownership stake or control in the conference they’re taking. It’s more of a private investment opportunity. RedBird is a huge global entity. They’ve got a lot of partnerships. The conference office will get out of it some money to be able to invest in some other business entities, take an investment in those to try to grow revenues from a different revenue stream. I think that’s something that’s worth exploring in this time that we’re in. And then the schools have the option to opt into a line of credit through that, and that’s up to each institution. It doesn’t effect the deal with the conference itself.

“As of right now, that is something that Oklahoma State will not do at this point. Should we need something like that, we believe we have other avenues or levers we could pull first before that. But again, I applaud the commissioner for making those options available to us.”

Weiberg and Hunziker also got into some other financial matters, like the report last week that the Big Ten distributed a record $1.37 billion to its 18 members in the 2024-25 fiscal year — a jump of about $500 million. The SEC announced in February that it had distributed more than $1 billion to its 16 members for the fiscal year.

So, dividing that up, that’s about $76 million on average for each Big Ten school and about $62.5 million for each SEC school.

The Big 12 hasn’t announced its allocations yet, but Weiberg said he expects the average Big 12 distribution to come in “north of $35 million.”

“That’s a wide discrepancy,” Weiberg said. “It’s a wider discrepancy than we’ve ever seen in the history of college athletics.”

To try to level that playing field as much as possible, Weiberg said OSU has asked all of its programs to cut expenses by 10%, OSU has increased ticket prices and the Boys From Oklahoma concerts have also helped with that.

It’s an uphill battle, but Weiberg noted that OSU has had to compete with the likes of Texas, one of the highest-funded athletic departments in the country, for years.

“There’s a bigger discrepancy now between what some conferences are getting and what others are than there ever has been before,” Weiberg said. “So, that presents unique challenges in terms of just the level playing field. At the end of the day, when you’re in a competition, part of what makes the competition interesting is when you’re trying to compete on a level playing field. Now, I say that acknowledging that there’s never an exactly level playing field — I don’t care if its the NFL or Major League Baseball or whatever, there’s not that. But I think to keep it interesting, there needs to be some version of a level playing field, and that’s getting very tilted in this environment.

“We’ve competed before. We’ve never been the highest-resourced institution in our conference or in the country or anything like that, and we’ve competed at a very high level in all of our sports, from football through all the other sports. Obviously the 55 national championships are a great indicator of that.”

The Detroit Pistons defeated Cleveland Cavaliers 107-97 on Thursday night to take a 2-0 lead to Cleveland. It’s the first time the Pistons have held such a lead in a playoff series since 2008.

After scoring 23 points and dishing out seven assists in his team’s Game 1 win over the Cavs on Tuesday, Cade dropped 25 and 10 (including a dozen in the fourth quarter) to help the Pistons take a commanding lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

One of the biggest plays of the week came on this step-back 3-pointer to put Detroit up nine with just over two minutes to go.

CADE CUNNINGHAM IS A BAD MAN 🥶 pic.twitter.com/ML7aJPrFnO

— NBA on Prime (@NBAonPrime) May 8, 2026

This comes after Cade led Detroit to a first round series win over the Orlando Magic in the first round, the Pistons’ first time to move on in the postseason also since 2008 (also against the Magic). This time the Pistons fell behind 3-1 to the Magic before rattling off three-straight wins to take it in seven. That included a Pistons record 45 points from Cade in Game 5.

Checkout his full game highlights.

Cade Cunningham 25 PTS, 10 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK, 7/14 FG, 3/6 3FG, 8/8 FT, 71.3% TS vs Cavs https://t.co/MIVzXiaOiK pic.twitter.com/g0qu4bcljj

— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) May 8, 2026

The Pistons and Cavs will meet for Game 3 at 2 p.m. CST Saturday in Cleveland. The game will be televised on NBC.

OSU Bullets

• Cowgirls took out Utah in their first Big 12 tournament game last night, 7-0 – Kenny Gajewski went after the Big 12 about his ace sharing an award (PFB)

• OSU’s home-and-home with Alabama is being replaced by a home-and-home with a Big Ten foe, Michigan State (PFB)

• Really solid two sentences explaining the football situation in Stillwater – and a reality we didn’t know six months ago.

It was unclear what exactly the NIL situation was in Stillwater, and if they would be able to compete with some of the top-tier programs, but based on this off-season haul, it looks like that is not going to be an issue. And with winning will come more resources. [HCS]

• Six of Cowboy Wrestling’s 2026 recruits are in the top ten of the class (PFB)

• Cade Cunningham had an awesome game, led the Pistons to a 2-0 lead on the Cavs (ESPN)

•  What a fun concept for All-Americans – it’s like the wrestling version of Cowboy Football bowl captains getting a badge on their jersey: 

Every cowboy needs a hat! Wild Spade fitted each of our 8 All-Americans with a custom hat today.🤠#stillyboys pic.twitter.com/Dp11tg5tC0

— stillyboys (@stillyboys_) May 7, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

•  A major hurdle was cleared to move us closer to a 76-team NCAA Tournament 

• Sign me up for most any of these airline seat innovations

While quote-tweeting the Big 12’s graphic that named Oklahoma State’s Ruby Meylan and Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady Co-Big 12 Pitchers of the Year, Gajewski wrote “Can we makes the Coaches’ vote public? May find out there is a different result!”

Can we make the Coaches’ vote public?May find out there is a different result! https://t.co/0kKgteYYmg

— Kenny Gajewski (@OSUcoachG) May 6, 2026

The Oklahoman‘s Scott Wright asked Gajewski after the Cowgirls’ Big 12 Tournament win against Utah if he wanted to provide some more context on that tweet. Boy, did he.

Gajewski opened his comment by saying he doesn’t want this to come off as him attacking Canady or Texas Tech but rather as a critique on the voting process — or maybe more clearly that the vote didn’t hold, according to him.

“We received an email on Wednesday, or Tuesday I think it was,” Gajewski said. “It listed all the winners. Ruby was the outright pitcher. Then I got an email from my SID, Serg, that there’s now a co-pitcher. That’s not right. I don’t appreciate it. It’s not the way we should be doing our business here. When I asked the question why, I got an answer ‘We looked at it holistically.’ You’re gonna have to explain to everybody out there what that means. It’s not right. ‘Holistically’ wasn’t on my voting sheet. It asked who the best pitcher was. I voted for NiJa because I can’t vote for (Meylan). And that’s why I said ‘Make this public.’”

“I have a lot of coaches in this league. I didn’t have to call them. They called me. They’re not happy. I’m not happy. It’s not right, and it’s nothing against NiJa or Texas Tech. It’s what the coaches voted for. So make them public. I think we’re probably not wanting to do that, to be very honest.

“I don’t have any sour grapes about ‘co.’ I have sour grapes that my kid was told that she was outright and then we changed that, for whatever reason. You guys can write about that. But it’s not right. It’s not fair to her. It wouldn’t be fair if it was NiJa and then they changed that. A vote is a vote. Why did my staff spend an hour-and-a-half voting if our vote doesn’t matter? And that’s what I’m being told. Your vote doesn’t matter.”

Gajewski concluded the news conference by saying he’s not sure where this lands him with the conference but that he is there supporting his team. He said he won’t comment anymore on the matter before standing and exiting the news conference.

Meylan was three outs from a no-hitter and led the Cowgirls to a 7-0 win against Utah in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

Meylan finally gave up a hit to start the seventh inning, but that was all the Utes got. The Cowgirl ace didn’t have a ton of strikeouts, but she was efficient, with her pitches.

She threw 92 total pitches Thursday. In a six-appearance stretch from the Bedlam game threw the Baylor series, Meylan averaged 118.7 pitches an outing. She hasn’t thrown north of 100 pitches in her past four outings now, averaging 92.5 pitches per outing.

“I don’t know how many pitches I threw, but it didn’t feel like very many,” Meylan said.

“Nintey-two,” said Kenny Gajewski next to her.

“Which is low for me,” Meylan said. “I love to have a high pitch count, so whenever I can keep that pitch count low and pitch to contact and they just do their jobs and I do mine, it makes it pretty easy.”

The Cowgirls finally started the game’s scoring in the fifth.

Rosie Davis got to the dish with runners on first and second when she sent a ball back up the middle, scoring Jayelle Austin from second.

Queen. Of. Clutch.

Rosie comes through to put us on the board! #GoPokes | @_RoseDavis2023 pic.twitter.com/GbkSiSWTNe

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 7, 2026

After Lexi McDonald walked to load the bases, Amanda Hasler pulled a ball down the third-base line that cleared the bags and ended up with a triple. The Utah left fielder tried calling time, signaling the ball was stuck under the fence, but she ended up being able to grab it and throw it back in.

CLEAR THOSE BASES MANDO 🚨 #GoPokes | @amandahasler3 pic.twitter.com/hSgGZWMYMz

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 7, 2026

Then white hot redshirt freshman Madison Hoffman sent a ball back up the middle, scoring Hasler. After 4.5 scoreless innings, the Cowgirls all of a sudden had a 5-0 lead.

Hoff’s heater continues 🔥

Make it a 5⃣ run fifth 🤠#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/CFVyYAhCYw

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 7, 2026

It’s not that the Cowgirls didn’t have scoring opportunities before that. They left five on base in the first two innings. Then in the fourth, Hoffman was momentarily 60 feet from home, but she was called out for leaving second base early on what ended up being a wild pitch.

In her return from an ACL injury, Hoffman has primarily been used as a pinch hitter this season but drew a start in right field Thursday because Tia Warsop got banged up in a recent practice. Hoffman didn’t play there the whole game but went 2-for-3 at the plate with and RBI. It’s just the third game this season she has had multiple at-bats in. She’s now hitting an even .500 on the season — not shabby.

“She just has these big at-bats,” Gajewski said. “She hits the ball hard. She’s playing with nothing to lose. She’s a freshman. She looks like she’s playing like she’s 8. … Madison is a pretty awesome kid, and obviously she’s really hot right now.

“Tia hasn’t done anything wrong, she’s just banged up. That’s what (Hoffman) got the chances, and every time she gets the chances, she’s doing good stuff.”

Karli Godwin added to the Cowgirl lead in the sixth when she launched a home run to straightaway center. The two-run shot was Godwin’s seventh home run of the season and made it 7-0.

We have liftoff in OKC 🚀#GoPokes | @karligodwin2 https://t.co/9CVCMBCaFZ pic.twitter.com/sn4jDZtL2a

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 8, 2026

Godwin, Davis and Hoffman all finished with multiple (two, to be exact) hits.

This marks the Cowgirls first win in OKC since winning the tournament in 2022. They’ve gone 0-1 at this event the past three seasons.

OSU will play an Arizona team in Friday night’s semifinal, as the Cowgirls await the winner of Arizona and Arizona State. Those teams play at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“My seniors just reminded me that this was their first Big 12 (tournament) win,” Gajewski said. “My juniors told me the same thing, which means we’ve sucked the last three years. So, hats off to this team for making that happen. Lot of good stuff. This is a real team that we get production up and down the lineup. It’s just cool to coach them. It’s a lot of fun.”

Saylor, operator of MatScouts, has six Oklahoma State signees in his final Top 10 for the 2026 class: No. 1 Jax Forrest, No. 4 Dreshaun Ross, No. 5 Jordyn Raney, No. 6 Jayden Raney, No. 8 Rocklin Zinkin and No. 9 Michael White.

I was interested to see where Forrest would fall in various final rankings given he enrolled early, in some ways joining the 2025 class. Given he’s already won an NCAA title while the rest of the 2026 class is waiting for high school graduation, his spot atop the 2026 throne makes sense.

As of now, it looks as if Ross could be the Cowboys’ heavyweight starter next season, and one of the Raneys could find their way into the starting lineup depending on what weight Forrest and Sergio Vega man next season. As a projected 184-pounder, White could also compete for a spot in the lineup as early as next season, given the shoulder injury Zack Ryder suffered at the end of last season. I wrote a way-too-early lineup predictions post earlier this week that fleshes some of those ideas out a little more.

Forrest, Ross and the Raneys were long considered some of the top prospects in this cycle, but Zinkin and White made major gains over the past year or so.

In April of 2025, Flo (a different ranking that Saylor’s), had Zinkin as the No. 100 prospect in the class while the outlet had White at No. 40. When those rankings updated this past November, Zinkin was up to No. 11 while White actually fell to No. 55.

Zinkin made his rise off what was a great senior year with wins at Fargo and Super 32 while going 1-1 at Who’s Number One. White is still relatively new to wrestling, having only started in high school. He won an Indiana state title this year, finishing 47-0.

Oklahoma State announced Thursday that a home-and-home series with Michigan State has been scheduled for 2028 (Stillwater) and 2029 (East Lansing), which has replaced the Cowboys’ scheduled nonconference games against Alabama. On3’s Brett McMurphy first reported the news.

This news comes largely because of the SEC’s move to a nine-game league season.

The Cowboys and Spartans haven’t met on the gridiron. Michigan State hired Pat Fitzgerald this offseason. After going 11-2 under Mel Tucker in 2021, the Spartans haven’t had a winning season, going 5-7 twice and 4-8 twice.

When the Spartans come to Stillwater on Sept. 16, 2028, it’ll mark the first longstanding Big Ten member to play in Boone Pickens Stadium.

Although the Cowboys haven’t played in East Lansing, they’ve played 11 games in Michigan, but only two of those have been played since 1955 — a 1992 game at Michigan and a 2015 game at Central Michigan.

Although it’s a little disappointing that we won’t get to see Alabama funnel into those tight BPS sidelines, there are still a lot of fun nonconference foes on the horizon for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys host Oregon this season, with the Ducks returning the trip from last year’s meeting in Eugene. Then OSU also has series set with Arkansas (2027, 2032 and 2033) and Nebraska (2034 and 2035).

PFB+ Sale: ⁠PFB+ subscriptions are 25% off when using this link

OSU Bullets

• The Cowgirls are looking to reverse a negative trend when they take on Utah at dinner time in Oklahoma City today.

Since winning the Big 12 Tournament in 2022, it’s been a quick trip to Oklahoma City for the Cowgirls the past three seasons. Oklahoma State has gone 0-1 at the Big 12 Tournament the past three years, but they’ll look to turn their fortunes this week when the 2-seed Cowgirls take on 7 seed Utah in the opening round at 5 p.m. Thursday. [PFB]

• Five Cowgirls brought home All-Conference honors to go with pitcher of the year (PFB)

• Cowboy Golf was named the top seed at the Marana, Arizona Regional coming up from 5/18-5/20, a big opportunity for the Pokes to defend the title:

Oklahoma State will be defending its national title, with the Cowboys now tied third for most championships in men’s golf history. [Golf Channel]

• Cowboy corner LaDanian Fields has the “lowest catch percentage allowed of returning cornerbacks this fall” (X)

• I don’t know about this guy Steve’s credibility, but picking the championship game last year is impressive – and he’s high on the Cowboys:

Steve Palazzolo’s model has really good early indicators for Texas Tech (with or without Sorsby), Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State. Last year, No. 1 and No. 2 in his preseason model? Indiana and Miami. pic.twitter.com/3l30HNkHvs

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) May 6, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Why beef prices won’t drop anytime soon

• Pulitzer Prize winners for 2025 were announced

Despite the ending being as gross as it was, there is no arguing that Gundy led the Oklahoma State program through its best era in history. Maybe some day that obviousness of that will be lost to the sands of time, but what won’t is the record book.

The Gundy Era is all over OSU’s record book. With the era being over, here’s a look at some of the major statistical categories Gundy-led players sit atop of. It’s the new standard the Eric Morris Era players will try to run down.

Rushing TDs (Game)

Two Cowboys have scored five rushing touchdowns in a singular game: Barry Sanders (x3) and Ollie Gordon.

That came when Gordon almost singlehandedly pushed the Cowboys past BYU on Nov. 25, 2023. It was a monstrous game regardless of the circumstance, but it was also huge in the fact that it was OSU’s regular season finale and clinched the Cowboys’ spot in the Big 12 title game.

Gordon finished with 166 yards on the ground along with those five TDs. He also had four catches for another 10 receiving yards.

Passing Yards (Game)

There have been 26 games in Oklahoma State’s history where the Cowboy quarterback threw for at least 400 yards. Mike Gundy coached 25 of those quarterbacks, and he is the other quarterback.

Mason Rudolph has the program record following the Gundy Era. Rudolph threw for 540 yards in that weather-delayed game against Pitt in 2016.

Rudolph went 26-for-46 in this contest and threw two TDs.

Receptions (Game)

It had been 74 years since an OSU player had more than 15 catches in a single game when Brennan Presley brought in 16 in the Texas Bowl in 2023. That tied him with Alex Loyd (1949) for the most catches in a game.

Even with all of those catches, Presley finished that game second on the team in receiving yards with 152. Rashod Owens actually took home Offensive MVP honors for catching 10 passes for 164 yards and two scores.

Receiving Yards (Game)

This is one of the trivia questions that, I think, a lot of Cowboy fans would get right. Adarius Bowman’s performance against Kansas in 2006 was legendary, as he finished with 300 receiving yards.

OSU was down 17-0 in the second half of this contest before Bowman essentially backpacked the Cowboys to a victory. With Bobby Reid playing quarterback, Bowman caught 13 balls for those 300 yards. Four of those receptions were touchdowns.

Side note: There were single-game records set in 2006 and 2016 — what does that mean for 2026?

Tackles for Loss (Game)

Emmanuel Ogbah would be a standout on a Gundy Era All-Defensive squad.

As a sophomore in 2014, Ogbah made 5.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage against Kansas. The game will probably best be remembered for Tyreek Hill’s late-game heroics, scoring a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth on a 99-yard kick return, but Ogbah was a menace, finishing with 10 tackles, two sacks and the 5.5 tackles for loss.

Passing Yards and Touchdowns (Season)

The top seven seasons in terms of passing yards in OSU’s history were all Gundy-coached quarterbacks. Mason Rudolph accounted for three of those, including the top season, while Brandon Weeden had two, Taylor Cornelius had one and Alan Bowman had one.

Rudolph threw for 4,904 yards and 37 touchdowns — both OSU records — as a senior in 2017. The touchdown mark is tied with Weeden’s 2011 season.

Rudolph threw for at least 200 yards in all 13 of OSU’s games that season. He threw for at least 300 yards in 11 of those games and at least 400 yards in five of them. There was only one game that year where Rudolph didn’t throw a touchdown (Texas, a game OSU still won). He had multiple TD passes in every other game.

Receiving Yards and Touchdowns (Season)

Justin Blackmon’s OSU legacy is tied much closer to the Cowboys’ 2011 season, but in 2010, he set the program’s record for receiving yards in a season with 1,782 — surpassing Rashaun Woods’ 2022 season.

Blackmon also accounted for 20 touchdown catches that year, surpassing Dez Bryant’s then-record of 19.

Blackmon had at least 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in every game that season — a ridiculous baseline to have. His best game in terms of yardage that year was a 10-catch, 207-yard performance against Texas Tech. His best TD game came against Tulsa, when he had 174 yards and three TDs on just six catches.

Passing Yards and Touchdowns (Career)

Rudolph is back. He closed his career with 13,618 passing yards and 92 passing touchdowns — both school records.

The top five quarterbacks in OSU’s history for career passings yards and touchdowns are four Gundy-coach QBs and Gundy himself.

Rudolph threw for less than 200 passing yards just four times in his career. Meanwhile he threw for at least 300 yards in 23 games and at least 400 yards 10 times. So when Rudolph took the field, the Cowboys had twice as good of a shot of him throwing for 400 yards than him throwing for less than 200.

Receptions (Career)*

This one comes with an asterisk because Brennan Presley took five years to climb atop this list, but still, getting ahead of Rashaun Woods on any list is a big deal.

Presley closed his career with 315 catches. After catching seven balls as a freshman, Presley would catch at least 50 in each of his remaining seasons, including 101 in 2023 and 90 in 2024.

Receiving Yards (Career)

With as many yards as Rudolph threw for, it would make sense that his primary target sits atop OSU’s career receiving yards list.

James Washington had 4,472 receiving yards on 19.8 yards a reception (also a school record) in his time as a Cowboy. Washington had 21 games of at least 100 receiving yards in his career and three games north of 200.

Oklahoma State has gone 0-1 at the Big 12 Tournament the past three years, but they’ll look to turn their fortunes this week when the 2-seed Cowgirls take on 7 seed Utah in the opening round at 5 p.m. Thursday.

The league’s top eight teams made the tournament field, meaning three Big 12 squads saw their season end this past weekend. Of the eight teams that will be in Oklahoma City, four weren’t even in the conference the last time the Cowgirls won it.

Newer Big 12 squads Arizona (3 seed), UCF (4), Arizona State (6) and Utah (7) join longstanding Big 12 members Texas Tech (1), OSU (2), Kansas (5) and Baylor (8) in the tournament. Although it’s hard to argue that the losses of OU and Texas were notable, Gajewski said this week that he likes what this new-look Big 12 has developed into.

“You start looking around, the people we brought in are the people who are getting in, as well as the teams that have been getting in,” Gajewski said. “The league RPI is the second in the country, so SEC and then us. So, we’re doing something right. I think it’s been a good league. We miss a little of the star power, but we’re really good in the middle. The top is good and the middle is better than it’s ever been. It’s been a good league. Very happy with what’s transpired.”

The Cowgirls enter the tournament sitting at No. 14 in the RPI as they look to put a bow on their NCAA Tournament resume. It feels like the Cowgirls are in a good spot to host an NCAA Regional, but getting into those top eight seeds feels like a long shot at this point, which would see the Cowgirls host a would-be Super.

Gajewski said Tuesday that All-American ace Ruby Meylan will throw the Cowgirls’ Big 12 tournament opener. She’s been all that and then some for OSU this season, with the Cowgirls winning the past 15 games Meylan has pitched in.

The topic of load management with her has been brought up a lot in Gajewski’s media availabilities because of how much she is throwing. She’s thrown 213 2/3 innings and 3,355 total pitches thus far this season.

While Gajewski clearly recognizes Meylan does need rest, he joked with the media Tuesday that they sounded more worried about it than he is. He also noted this is how it used to be in softball. For reference, Meylan’s 213 2/3 innings pitched isn’t even in the top 10 in seasons in program history. Back in 2004, Jessica Hoppock threw 307 innings for the Cowgirls.

“I’m gonna protect her this week — like we have in the league,” Gajewski said. “I don’t think we can be a top eight (seed). I think losing to Kansas (on Saturday) took any outside chance of that out. I thought there was maybe an outside chance if we swept, and then we could run the table in the conference tournament, which would be hard to do. But we’d be on, like, a huge winning streak playing probably as good of softball as anybody in the country. Then if some other things happened, maybe you slip into an 8 — maybe.

“I think we lost that chance. So, I think right now you just go in there and say, OK, we’re gonna try to win the first game, and we’ll do whatever it takes. Then we’ll evaluate that, that night in my room with the staff over some food and talk about that and figure out what’s next best. There’s no need to get ahead of ourselves yet.”

Ruby Meylan shared Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors with Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canaday. Meylan was also on the league’s First Team along with OSU third baseman Rosie Davis. Aubrey Jones and Jayelle Austin made the league’s All-Freshman team, while catcher Audrey Schneidmiller was included on the All-Defensive Team.

No one in the Big 12 has shouldered more of a workload than Meylan. Her 213 2/3 innings pitched leads the league by a full 69 innings. Even with that workload, Meylan’s 2.03 ERA is good for third in the league, while she has a Big 12 best 26 wins and ranks second with 201 strikeouts.

A junior, Davis is hitting .323 entering this weekend’s Big 12 Tournament. She has a team-best 53 hits, 11 doubles and 13 home runs. After playing second base in her first two years in Stillwater, Davis has made the transition to the hot corner and has a career-best fielding percentage of .968.

Jones is hitting .326 in her freshman season and has started every game the Cowgirls have played this year. Her 42 hits thus far ranks fifth on the team, trailing only upperclassmen, meanwhile her nine doubles are tied for second among Cowgirls.

Austin hit .257 in her freshman regular season. She’s got a knack for finding her way on base. Here .429 on-base percentage ties Karli Godwin for second on the team among Cowgirls who have at least two plate appearances in 75% of OSU’s games. Austin has drawn a team-high 30 walks. She’s also made more than a handful of highlight plays in center field.

There aren’t many stories better than that of Schneidmiller’s. A senior, Schneidmiller had ample opportunity to look for playing time elsewhere over the years but just kept showing up and putting the work in to the point it was hard for Kenny Gajewski to keep her off the field. She’s hitting .320 entering the Big 12 Tournament and has been a rock behind the plate for the Cowgirls. She has a perfect fielding percentage.

If you’re looking for slights, there was probably a strong argument for Tia Warsop and/or Claire Timm making a team. Warsop’s .349 batting average is tops among Cowgirls with at least 35 at-bats. She’s second among Cowgirls with 37 runs scored. Timm is right behind Warsop with a .348 batting average. Timm has 30 RBIs and 18 extra-base hits.

The Cowgirls open their Big 12 Tournament run with a game against Utah at 5 p.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City.

OSU Bullets

Oklahoma State’s deepest room is their receiver room. That looked like the safest bet this winter and is even more true now. The combination of returning receivers, transfers, high school signees and a couple of walk-ons gives the Cowboys plenty of room to rotate talent in and not miss too much of a beat. [GoPokes 247]

Dez Bryant highlights?@DezBryant highlights. pic.twitter.com/b3cFoMpV7f

— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) May 5, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

Life rarely changes in a positive way without an increase in responsibility. That can mean taking ownership of your health or committing to a relationship or starting a business. Whatever it is, if you want the trajectory to change, the amount of responsibility usually has to change. James Clear

Madison Hoffman tore her ACL last school year, meaning she missed her freshman year on the field, but late in her return season, Hoffman has been on a tear. Since OSU’s big win against Texas on April 22, Hoffman is 5-for-8 (.625) at the plate with nine RBIs and four home runs. Her only non-home run in that stretch was a triple.

“She’s an amazing kid — I don’t even know what else to say,” Gajewski said. “She’s a worker. We talk about Lexi McDonald being The Cowgirl Way, Madison Hoffman will take those reigns over. She’s right on Lexi right now. They’re great friends. I see (Hoffman) following (McDonald). When I start talking about (The Cowgirl Way) next, it’ll be about her.

“We used to not travel kids who were hurt. Last year, I was like, how could I not travel her? When we’re home, she’s doing everything right. When we’re home, she’s the best worker. She’s been the best worker this whole year. Starting to really open our eyes in practice, being more consistent. You saw flashes of brilliance, but it was a flash. Now it’s not a flash — she’s doing it.”

Gajewski said he tells his true freshmen to follow what Hoffman does.

And it’s not just the coaching staff that notices the extra work Hoffman puts in. Junior third baseman Rosie Davis said Hoffman hits early “every single day” and is always asking for advice. Davis called Hoffman “probably the best teammate I’ve also ever met.”

“She’s just a dog,” Davis said. “She’s always been a dog. She’s the hardest worker I’ve ever met. She outworks everyone by 100 miles. It’s so cool to just go out there and just see her execute and all the hard work pay off for her. There’s a lot more to come Hoffy. She’s amazing.”

Hoffman said her work ethic comes from her parents. She said at one point when she was young, it felt like her mom was dragging her to pitching lessons but around the fifth grade it flipped to where she was dragging her mom to the field.

She didn’t initially realize her ACL was torn when it happened in a practice last school year. The injury forced Hoffman, a noted hard worker, off the softball field for an extended period of time for the first time in her life.

But because of how she handles herself, Gajewski made it a point to bring her on the road trips regardless of the fact that she couldn’t contribute on the field. Heck, there were a few games last season that Gajewski had Hoffman as the Cowgirls’ first-base coach.

Her willingness to be a good teammate has continued now that she is able to contribute on the field.

“I always just tell myself as long as our team is winning, I really don’t care what I’m doing,” Hoffman said. “I just want to win really bad. Obviously being able to contribute on the field just makes it 10 times better. But just waiting my turn, our coaches always tell us the season is really long, so just trusting that my work is gonna pay off eventually, is just what goes through my mind.”

Hoffman has primarily been used as a pinch hitter of late, a spot that Gajewski said takes a special kind of person with a special mentality. Hoffman said pinch hitting can be stressful, but it’s been working.

When recalling her favorite moments of the season thus far, Hoffman noted that her home run against Texas was “pretty awesome.” Not only was it a big game, but it marked her first college home run and came in a win against the defending national champs.

What a time for your first career homer, Hoff 👏

📺 ESPN2 #GoPokes https://t.co/R8X6tIQBQ4 pic.twitter.com/Bt3XcY13en

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) April 23, 2026

Hoffman had a relatively quiet Baylor series that next weekend, stepping to the plate in every game, but going 0-for-1 with two walks drawn.

That next midweek game saw the Cowgirls host Tulsa, and Hoffman’s fingerprints were all over the Cowgirls’ 5-0 win. She hit a three-run home run in the fourth, an RBI triple in the sixth and scored in that sixth inning off an Aubrey Jones single. So, Hoffman drove in four runs and scored the other.

That bark had a lot of bite. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/2joQAg8JOw

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) April 30, 2026

Then she took three at-bats against Kansas this past weekend. Two of those plate appearances ended with the ball over the fence.

Hoff’s last three ABs: HR, 3B, HR 🔥

Chat, is that good? #GoPokes https://t.co/qPoHtwzuIK pic.twitter.com/VUgj75RC2n

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

HOFF = HEATER

Her third home run in her last five ABs 🔥#GoPokes https://t.co/YNNxxnBfpL pic.twitter.com/q09LxdaJF4

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 3, 2026

“I believe that people get what they oughta get, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Gajewski said.

On Monday, Stilly Boys released a behind-the-scenes documentary of the Cowboy RTC’s journey at last month’s U.S. Open.

There were ups — like Wyatt Hendrickson and Landon Robideau dominating their brackets. But there were also some down.

Wearing a compression sleeve on his knee, 2025 NCAA champ Dean Hamiti dropped his quarterfinal bout in the 79 kg bracket, which out of context was a somewhat surprising loss. But with the context of that documentary, that sleeve wasn’t there for good looks.

“DJ kinda tweaked his knee — I don’t know what it’s been — maybe a month and a half ago,” Taylor said. “Wasn’t thinking much about it, went and got it looked at and realized his ACL is torn and had been torn for a long time. So, really likely that he won the nationals on a torn ACL a year ago. It’s always bugged him but never really thought much about it.”

Taylor is a big believer in wrestling the backside of brackets. It’s something he not only preaches but practiced. Taylor wrestled at the 2024 World Championships when he was somewhat already retired having taken the OSU job. He got matched up against six-time world champ and two-time Olympic champ Abdulrashid Sadulaev in the first round and fell 3-1. But Taylor still wrestled the backside of that bracket and left with a bronze medal.

All that is to say that Taylor is big on finishing out a tournament, but with Hamiti clearly being compromised with that knee, Taylor made it clear to Hamiti that he didn’t have to keep wrestling.

“I would never tell somebody to medical out of a tournament,” Taylor said. “It’s just not something we believe in, but you’re thinking about the long-term future there. There was no real upside. There was no team that he could make at that point. It’s just the way it was.”

But Hamiti wanted to finish on the podium, so he went out for one more match at the Open, pinned his foe and took eighth.

It’s impossible to know when the tear occurred, but if Hamiti did, in fact, win that 2025 NCAA title minus an ACL, it makes the already impressive feat all the more impressive.

To get to that title, Hamiti beat Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy in the quarters. Kennedy would go on to finish fourth and took third this most recent season.

Then the Cowboy matched up with Penn State’s Levi Haines in the semis. Haines finished third that year. He just wrapped up his college career with a second national title — going second, first, third, first in his four NCAA Championships.

Hamiti won his final against Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole. O’Toole was also quite banged up in that match, so shoutout to his toughness, as well. But O’Toole wrestled at five NCAA Tournaments and went third, first, first, third, second.

That’s an incredible run from Hamiti regardless of circumstance, but it turns out, it might’ve been even more incredible than we initially thought.

OSU Bullets

• Dez Bryant, Jr. got an offer from Oklahoma State yesterday (PFB)

• Predicting OSU’s 2026-27 wrestling starting lineup (PFB)

• D1 Baseball has the Pokes as a postseason lock after sweeping TCU over the weekend (D1Baseball.com)

• Cade Cunningham took a step, carrying the Pistons through the first round (CBS Sports)

•  Gundy would consistently talk about how he’s glad he set a new expectation by winning so many games – it’s wild living up to your own success: 

One more observation:

Oklahoma State (25) has more wins than Auburn, Florida, FSU, Miami, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas A&M and USC. The guy responsible for all those wins (at his alma mater) was pushed out the door last year after losing 11 straight to FBS foes. https://t.co/Sa8VnVuscj

— Chris Low (@Clowfb) May 5, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Spirit Airlines shut down • 62 gifts for a recent college grad

So, let’s take an early stab at what the Cowboys’ lineup could look like next season, as Taylor brought in another elite recruiting class to pair with his already outstanding team.

Quick note: the NCAA is pushing for a five-for-five eligibility model. That means athletes would have five seasons to compete but eliminate traditional redshirts. I think that could be a big deal in wrestling, as it would no longer make sense for an already good guy to sit for a year and develop. For what it’s worth, Taylor has already proven he isn’t afraid to throw young guys right into things.

125

Weight Overview: Taylor’s first team had a lot of experienced guys on it. His second was filled with exciting youth. But Troy Spratley was a constant in both.

After taking second at NCAAs in Taylor’s first year, Spratley battled to a fifth-place finish at the always-chaotic weight this past season.

Spratley will be entering his senior year, though. The Cowboys are adding stud freshman lightweight Rocklin Zinkin, who just added his third California state title in a highly anticipated bout against a previously unbeaten wrestler. He’s also been a winner at Fargo and Super 32.

With as stacked as the Cowboys are in the lighter weights right now, I’ve also wondered if it’s possible that a guy like Ronnie Ramirez is capable of a cut down from 133 to 125. I don’t know that we’ll need to know the answer to that question this season, but something to think about once Spratley is done.

Prediction: Troy Spratley

133

Weight Overview: This is where things get complicated.

And maybe it shouldn’t be. There’s a world where the answer is simply Jax Forrest, the reigning national champion at the weight. While there is no doubt Forrest will be in the Cowboys’ lineup next season, there’s a question as to whether it’ll be back at 133 or perhaps a jump up to 141.

If his natural growth doesn’t make it a necessity, Forrest will at some point in the next few years have to make the ascent up to 65 kg (about 143 pounds) for the Olympics, as the 61 kg (about 134 pounds) that he’s wrestled freestyle at the past two years isn’t an Olympic weight. For what it’s worth, Forrest is still wrestling 61 kg this freestyle season, so maybe that move up doesn’t happen this year.

Should he make the move up, there are plenty of contenders for this spot.

It starts with Ramirez, who went 11-3 while redshirting this season and looked ready to step into the lineup had it not been for Forrest’s early arrival.

Cael Hughes had some success at the weight in 2024-25, going 8-1, but 133 might be a tough cut for him at this point. He went 140-0 as a high schooler and is a four-time Oklahoma state champ, but has dealt with injuries to start his college career.

And twins Jayden and Jordyn Raney are incoming — two Top 10 recruits in the 2026 class. Jordyn has wrestled heavier than Jayden, with Jordyn winning his sixth Kentucky state title this year at 150 pounds. Wrestling at 144, Jayden won his fifth state title. Jayden won Who’s Number One last year at 132 pounds.

Prediction: Jayden Raney

This tells you where I have Forrest and Sergio Vega going, but man, I really have no clue when it comes to 133 and 141.

141

Weight Overview: This weight is in almost the exact same spot with returning national champ Sergio Vega, but it sounds as if Vega might not be long for the weight and could be on his way up.

Many of the same depth pieces at 133 would be in play here, as well. You also wonder whether it’s possible for Tagen Jamison to get back down to 141 if its his best shot in the lineup. Jamison missed this past season with an injury but was already viewed as a big 141 in Taylor’s first year.

Prediction: Jax Forrest

The predictions at 133 and 141 were the toughest because it feels like they can go about five different ways. They were the last two weights I filled in, and even as I’m typing this, I don’t feel confident.

As good as we already know Forrest and Vega are, this segment of the lineup could come down to who Taylor thinks has the most points-scoring potential among the other options. If Ramirez is the best guy for this season among those others, perhaps he gets the 133 spot and Forrest bumps up. If one of the Raneys are the better option, perhaps Forrest stays down and one them gets the 141 spot. It’s a great problem to have if your Taylor, but as someone trying to predict it, I have no clue.

149

Weight Overview: Well, if I didn’t have Vega at 141, where do you think I have him going?

This was a spot manned by Casey Swiderski this past season. Swiderski’s fire felt like a big deal for this young team, with Vega in particular crediting him with a lot following his national title. That’s why this stinks for Swiderski should this be the way things are headed, but Vega won a national title as a freshman without getting taken down — if he can’t make 141 anymore, you’ve obviously still have to keep him in the lineup.

If a Raney also wants to scrap for this spot, it’d likely be Jordyn. These lower/middle weights are so stacked.

Prediction: Sergio Vega

157

Weight Overview: It’s Landon Robideau.

Prediction: Landon Robideau

165

Weight Overview: Dee Lockett had a disappointing end to an otherwise solid freshman season, and I’m excited to see how he uses that disappointment to motivate him this offseason.

Prediction: Dee Lockett

174

Weight Overview: It felt like Alex Facundo was on the precipice of having a true breakout year, but he hit stumbled late.

The answer at 174 could be as simple as Facundo running it back now having gone through the rigors of a full season, but this could also be a spot up for grabs.

I was super impressed with Kody Routledge‘s redshirt year at 165 pounds. He went 6-2 with his losses being to national qualifier Braeden Scoles in the Cougar Clash final and a 10-9 decision to Big 12 champ/fourth-place NCAA finisher Nicco Ruiz. Routledge is going to be a tough to keep out of the lineup much longer.

Some have also wondered whether 174 would be the best weight for Zack Ryder. Ryder was the Cowboys’ 184 pounder last season and finished eighth while battling through injury.

Along with whatever happens at 133/141, this feels like the most hotly contested weight.

 Prediction: Kody Routledge

It honestly feels like a three-sided coin flip. If I knew Ryder would be healthy, I think that’s where I’d lean. But for now, give me the Edmond North product.

184

Weight Overview: Zack Ryder’s run to the podium despite his shoulder dislocating basically every match was one of the better stories of OSU’s postseason.

Will he be able to recover from that in time to be ready to go for next season? That’s the question.

This is the lone spot OSU hit the portal for this offseason, brining in South Dakota State transfer Bennett Berge. Berge finished fourth at the weight in 2024. He wrestled up at 197 pounds this past season, losing to Cody Merrill in the Big 12 tournament. The prevailing thought is that Berge will be headed back down with this move to Stillwater.

Mikey White is another name to watch out for here. White will be a freshman this season. He hasn’t been wrestling all that long, but his potential is evident, finishing his high school senior year at 47-0 with an Indiana state title. He’s the No. 1 190-pound prospect in the country, per Flo.

Prediction: Bennett Berge

197

Weight Overview: Fan-favorite Cody Merrill was thought to be in contention for a podium finish going into nationals this past season, and he more than outkicked that expectation with a second-place finish as a redshirt freshman.

I’ll give a shoutout to Austin Johnson here, as well. Johnson had a great redshirt year, going 8-3 with a win at the Cyclone Open.

Prediction: Cody Merrill

HWT

Weight Overview: This is the only weight where the Cowboys’ starter from this past season ran out of eligibility, but luckily for the Pokes, they have a blue-chipper coming in.

Dreshaun Ross is the top-ranked heavyweight prospect in the 2026 class. He is a four-time Iowa state champ and won at Fargo in July.

Heavyweight is a tough weight to get thrown into as a freshman, but the weight is losing its top four placers from last season.

Prediction: Dreshaun Ross

On Monday, Bryant’s son, Dez Bryant Jr., announced he has been offered to play football at Oklahoma State.

Blessed to receive an offer from OSU! All glory to God. More work to do. Grateful, focused, just getting started. #AGTG @leemunn87 @CoachRazloznik @CoachL_OBrien @coachwetzel_ @__CoachMorris @drobalwayzopen @SLC_Recruiting @CarrollDragonFB pic.twitter.com/qtPTTJfIBS

— DezJr (@DezJrx) May 4, 2026

The younger Dez is a wide receiver prospect in the 2028 recruiting class out of Southlake Carroll (TX), having previously spent time at Colleyville Heritage (TX). He’s also received offers to play at Texas A&M, SMU and Kentucky.

He’s listed at 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and was credited with a 4.46 40-yard dash at a recent Under Armour event.

It’s still early days when it comes to prospects in the 2028 class, and thus, Bryant Jr. isn’t ranked as of yet, but certainly will be with a starting offer sheet like that.

If you’ve been living under a rock, the elder Dez was a standout in Stillwater.

He played in 28 games (thanks, NCAA), where he caught 147 passes for 2,425 yards and 29 touchdowns. He was also a standout in the return game, housing three punts as a Cowboy.

Bryant was a consensus All-American in 2008 after catching 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns. That season ranks second in OSU’s history in touchdown receptions, trailing only the 20 Justin Blackmon caught in 2010. Despite his college career being cut short, Bryant still ranks fifth in program history in career touchdown receptions.

The Dallas Cowboys ended up taking Bryant with the 24th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he’d go on to become one of the better NFL players OSU has produced. In eight seasons in Dallas, Bryant caught 537 passes for 7,506 yards and 75 touchdowns. He was a three-time Pro Bowler and a First Team All-Pro selection.

OSU Bullets

“I think it definitely creates more pressure, as we move towards more of these power conferences,” said OSU men’s coach Steve Lutz. “If they’re taking more teams, and you’re not able to make the tournament, especially if your university has invested into your program…” Lutz said. “You’re already starting to see people let go after three years, whereas you used to get four or five years.” [TulsaWorld]

.@cowgirlsb is 1-1 vs. Nebraska this season and 1-0 vs. OU. Huskers won the Big 10, and OU won the SEC. #okstate #gopokes @OSUAthletics

— Kevin Klintworth (@KKlintworth) May 3, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

Oklahoma State swept TCU this weekend with an 11-10 win on Sunday. But it didn’t always look as if the Cowboys would win this game.

OSU trailed 8-1 going into the bottom of the third inning, with the Horned Frogs battering the Pokes with a seven-run second inning that saw three balls leave the yard.

But then slowly and surely, the Pokes started chipping away.

OSU pulled two back in the bottom of third when Aidan Meola homered to left.

Bye bye baseball 👋#GoPokes | @aidanmeola1 pic.twitter.com/UFpAAlPA21

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 3, 2026

The two-run shot momentarily cut TCU’s lead to five, but then the Horned Frogs got one back with a bases-loaded walk in the top of the fourth. But the home half of that inning was really where the Cowboys started showing life.

OSU plated three in the inning, all coming off a two-out rally. Freshman Danny Wallace, who has been playing well, singled to start the rally and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Alex Conover, who homered in the first, walked.

That brought up Brock Thompson, who took a 2-2 count to right, singling and scoring Wallace.

Then superstar Kollin Ritchie had an infield single that saw Conover score from third before a Meola single scored Thompson. All of a sudden, it was 9-6.

It’d stay that way until the sixth when the Cowboys would get the lead back.

Ritchie homered for the 26th time this season. The two-run shot made it 9-8. Ritchie’s 26th homer ties Tal Light (1995) and Robin Ventura (1988) for sixth on OSU’s single season record list.

Just Kollin doing Kollin things 💪

His fourth 💣 of the series puts the Cowboys within one#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/XwAIHJZ9Qq

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 3, 2026

Then Meola tied it in the next at-bat, taking an 0-2 count to center.

WE’RE TIED ‼️

Pokes comeback from down seven #GoPokes | @aidanmeola1 pic.twitter.com/lGMlqBtWpa

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 3, 2026

And then with the next at-bat, Campbell Smithwick gave the Pokes the lead on a full count.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK ✖️3⃣

Soup hits the 3rd straight BOMB for the Cowboys to take the lead#GoPokes | @campbellrsoup pic.twitter.com/6GQlg3dvkF

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 3, 2026

OSU would score again in the eighth on a fielder’s choice to add what ended up being some much-needed insurance before Noah Wech put the Frogs to bed … after a bit of a scare.

Leadoff man Cole Cramer reached on a fielding error and advanced to second on a ground out.

After another groundout meant the game was an out away from ending, Wech walked Nolan Traeger before Rob Liddington Jr. doubled. One run scored, and the tying run was 90 feet from home plate. But then Wech forced a full-count flyout to secure the sweep.

After a no-fun start from Brennan Phillips on the mound and a not-ideal initial relief outing from Kai Fyke, the Cowboy bullpen did an excellent job finding a way to get it done. The quartet of Zane Burns, Jake Kennedy, Drew Blake and Wech combined to throw six innings where they have up three hits and the ninth-inning run. Wech was the only one of that group to give up a hit.

Don’t look now, but the Cowboys are 31-17 and 14-10 in Big 12 play. It’s their second straight Big 12 sweep after going 3-0 in Lubbock last weekend. They’re off in the midweek and return to action next weekend when they travel to Arizona State for a three-game series.

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Oklahoma State beat Kansas 7-0 in Cowgirl Stadium. The win plus Arizona’s loss to Utah means the Cowgirls secured the 2 seed in this week’s Big 12 Tournament.

After the Cowgirls were clobbered without Meylan on Saturday, the Cowgirl ace returned to the circle and added to a little history.

Meylan threw the whole seven, giving up a hit while walking none and striking out seven.

She’s up to 201 strikeouts on the season and now boats a 26-6 record. Meylan becomes the fourth Cowgirl with multiple 20-win/200-strikeout seasons — joining Michele Smith, Melanie Roche and Kim Ward. Not bad company.

The only baserunner the Jayhawks had Sunday came via an OSU error in the fourth. OSU had a shift on. Right fielder Claire Timm was essentially playing shortstop and couldn’t quite get ahold of a hard-hit ball in time to throw Presley Limbaugh out at first.

Meylan had a no-hitter going into the sixth when Ava Wallace sent a ball to the gap in right-center, but after a review, she was tagged out while popping up from her slide at second, quickly putting an end to any momentum the Jayhawks thought they had.

It wasn’t just that the Cowgirls were without Meylan on Saturday — their offense had a bad day. But that group got back on track Sunday, scoring runs in four of the six innings the Cowgirls batted in.

Gajewski said there might be something to the offense playing better in days Meylan pitches.

“The way I would say it is when you look at her and you’re playing behind her, if you don’t think you can win, you’ve lost your mind,” Gajewski said. “We can beat anybody. We’ve shown that. When she throws, we’re as good as anybody in the country.”

It was another solid day of softball for Rosie Davis. The junior third baseman scored a run and drove in three. She hit a two-run home run in the third. It marked her third home run of the series and 13th of the year.

It was her 30th career homer, putting her alone in sixth on OSU’s all-time list.

Make it a baker’s dozen on the year for 2⃣6⃣#GoPokes | @_RoseDavis2023 https://t.co/HAr23CDm2I pic.twitter.com/7386epbYPD

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 3, 2026

Davis’ homer was one of three the Cowgirls hit Saturday.

Redshirt freshman Madison Hoffman is absolutely scorching. She homered again on Sunday, this one a two-run shot in the fifth. It’s her third home run in the past four games and fourth since crushing one at Texas on April 22. She’s hit three home runs and a triple in her past five at-bats.

HOFF = HEATER

Her third home run in her last five ABs 🔥#GoPokes https://t.co/YNNxxnBfpL pic.twitter.com/q09LxdaJF4

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 3, 2026

Returning from a knee injury, Hoffman has primarily been used as a pinch hitter. She’s now taken 19 at-bats this season and is hitting .474.

“It’s wild,” Gajewski said. “I don’t wanna talk about it. I’m just gonna keep putting her in there. She’s the hardest worker. It’s crazy to see. She flashes power every day. So, it’s not a shock. It’s not a lucky thing. She’s got crazy pop.”

Senior catcher Audrey Schneidmiller got the home run party started in the second, sending a two-run shot to left. It was her fourth of the season.

OSU enters the Big 12 Tournament having won 20 of their past 24 games. OSU closes the regular season at 37-14 and 16-8 in Big 12 play. Regardless of what happens in OKC, the Cowgirls should be in a good spot to host an NCAA Regional with how they’ve closed the year.

“I do (feel comfortable about being a host), but I’ve seen some wild stuff,” Gajewski said. “We’ll take whatever comes our way and we’ll go anywhere to play. We can win anywhere, but I think we’ve done what we need to to be a top 16 host.”

OSU will play Utah at 5 p.m. Thursday in Oklahoma City. The game will be on ESPN+.

OSU Bullets

• A day after taking Game 1 over Kansas 8-1, the Cowgirls got run-ruled 10-1 by the Jayhawks. The rubber match is set for Sunday. [PFB]

• At the other diamond in Stilly, the Cowboys took care of business and earned a nice series win over TCU. They’ll look to sweep on Sunday. [PFB]

• During that game, TCU’s head coach got ejected for arguing a call and took a very deliberate stroll through the outfield.

Clipped from the game broadcast on my phone.

The brief case exit was iconic. https://t.co/iccpL0HUrU pic.twitter.com/2vP1NAm9Fi — Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) May 3, 2026

The rules might be to post only one picture, but sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. pic.twitter.com/OWx94MIuzD

— No Context College BSB 2.0 (@NoContextBSB) May 3, 2026

• McLean is filthy.

Nolan McLean has struck out four through three innings 🔥 pic.twitter.com/JogvIIXLb9

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 3, 2026

• Berry Tramel talks NCAA Tournament expansion,

Non-OSU Bullets

• Quick preview of Thunder-Lakers. [The Athletic]

• Wild thang.

New Dolphins QB Malik Willis threw out the first pitch Friday night: pic.twitter.com/5UuWB2jW3M

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 2, 2026

The Cowboys secured a statement series win in a game that produced an iconic ejection by TCU’s head coach.

Oklahoma State defeated TCU 9-2 to earn the Cowboys’ fourth Big 12 series win. The Cowboys poured it on late, but it was a defensive battle for more than half of the evening.

Both teams were scoreless through five before things finally broke loose. The Horned Frogs scored on a two-RBI double by Chase Brunson. The Cowboys countered with runs of their own in the sixth off sac-fly’s by Campbell Smithwick and Avery Ortiz, who played in his first game in about a month.

The Cowboys kept scoring, but the Frogs didn’t. OSU scored three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth.

A day after Kollin Ritchie made history with his 23rd, 24th and 25th home runs of the season (including the walk-off game-winner), the Frogs were resigned to leave him be. Ritchie was 1-for-1 and was walked four times. But two of those walks resulted in runs, including a run in the seventh when he scored from first base on an Aidan Meola double.

While TCU pitched around Ritchie, they couldn’t avoid all the Pokes’ bats. Five Cowboys drove in runs including a solo home run from Ortiz in the eighth and a two-run homer by Garrett Shull later in that inning, his 12th bomb of the year.

Stormy Rhodes got the start from the mound and lasted 5 2/3 innings. He allowed those two runs in the sixth but struck out six batters. Mario Pesca picked up the win, moving to 5-3 on the season. In 3 1/3 innings he allowed just one hit, walked two Frogs and struck out six.

In a peculiar turn of events, TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos was ejected for arguing an overturned call that saw Danny Wallace ruled safe after originally being called out at third. Saarloos made sure the officials understood his point of view and then, after he was ejected, he went back to the first-base dugout, grabbed his leather briefcase and then took a very long stroll across the field.

TCU manager Kirk Saarloos got ejected and proceeded to grab his leather briefcase then take over a minute to walk across the field before leaving pic.twitter.com/cIqFVVz8ex

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 3, 2026

With the win, the Cowboys improve to 30-17 on the year and 19-5 in conference play. The Pokes will go for the sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday at O’Brate Stadium.

The Cowgirls did the butt-kicking on Friday night but were on the other end of things on Saturday.

No. 16 Oklahoma State fell to Kansas 10-1 in five innings. The Jayhawks hit the ground running and didn’t look back.

Freshman Preslee Downing got the start for the Cowgirls but took her first L of the season. She’s 5-1 on the year, but the Jayhawks had her number on Saturday.

Downing gave up five total runs while facing just five total Jayhawk batters. After a lead-off single and then a double put her in a jam, the next three Jayhawks batted in a run, and the Cowgirls made a pitching change.

RyLee Crandall came in and did get OSU out of the inning but not before KU’s Aynslee Linduff sent the fourth and fifth runs across the plate. She would finish out the game, allowing five runs on 11 hits while walking three with three strikeouts.

The Cowgirls scored their only run in the bottom of the first on a Rosie Davis solo home run, her 12th bomb of the season.

Rosie’s 12th dinger of the year!#GoPokes | @_RoseDavis2023 https://t.co/eBHHL5AosL pic.twitter.com/7vYdPiqMfJ

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

Kansas added a run in the second, three in the third and another in the fourth to go up 10-1. A scoreless fifth for both squads resulted in the mercy rule.

The loss ends a seven-game winning streak for the Cowgirls and ties the weekend series at 1-1 after OSU topped Kansas 8-1 on Friday. The Cowgirls are 36-14 and 15-8 in Big 12 play. The rubber match is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Cowgirl Stadium.

Three Thoughts

• OSU landed a commitment from an Oklahoma point guard, an OSU legacy through his dad who played quarterback for the Pokes in the 2000s (PFB)

• The Cowgirls continue to cruise after an 8-1 win over Kansas, while the Pokes saw a program record for home runs tied in a walkoff win over the Frogs (PFB)  

• Steve Lutz and his crew went full-on offense last year; they’re going for a more balanced look with the transfer portal class this year (TulsaWorld)

Two Quotes

• Update on Gundy’s ideology in retirement: 

What I took from Gundy on Cowherd:

– first words were “they deserve to be paid”
– still not a portal fan
– thinks 8 is the perfect playoff number, and would have playoff right after the season
– Mahomes is the best college QB he coached against
– portal changed hard coaching

— Dan Lindblad (@DanLindbladTV) April 30, 2026

• Kollin Ritchie – the homerun king of the 2020s:

With his second home run of the night, Kollin Ritchie makes a lil history. pic.twitter.com/BiAi0oGc2k

— Pistols Firing (@pistolsguys) May 2, 2026

One Question

• Great question here – what’s your realistic win/loss prediction for football this fall? 

Oklahoma State fans… what’s your realistic football record prediction next season?
I don’t want optimism, I want honesty. 😭
Drop it 👇

— CGA Tour 🎙️ (@TheCGATour) April 29, 2026

Non-OSU Bullets

• Big 12’s private capital agreement puts them in position for new TV deal

• Denver’s first-round exit clears paths for OKC

Having already sent two out of the ballpark, Ritchie said he wasn’t sure he was he was going to get a pitch to hit. But the Horned Frogs still went at him. Ritchie belted the second pitch he saw into the Stillwater’s neon black skies, giving the Cowboys a 7-6 win in their series opener against TCU.

HOMER x3

Kollin Ritchie ends the night with his third home run of the game#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/VdmODyP3Og

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 2, 2026

“He’s uniquely strong — that’s real strong,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “He was like that when he got here. He got like that his senior year of high school. He became a man two years before most kids. A lot of guys, by the time they’re sophomores, they start to get man strength. His senior year (of high school), he was man strong. …

“As time has gone on, he has gained a greater working knowledge of the art of hitting. He’s now become a two-sided hitter. He can hit both to the left and right, you saw that on display tonight. He’s also become a multispeed hitter. He can now hit both hard and soft pitches, and he’s learned how to be a focal point, meaning people are really trying to keep him from beating them and yet he’s still finding ways to not miss the pitch he gets. And he might only get one an at-bat. So, it’s a lot of things — it’s all of those things together.”

From Atoka, Ritchie went 4-for-4 Friday night with the three round-trippers and a double. They were home runs No. 23, 24 and 25 of the season for him. The 23rd tied Nolan Schubert for the most in an OSU season since 2000. Then 24 broke that record, and 25 put some distance between him in the field.

It would take some doing for Ritchie to get to Pete Incaviglia’s season record of 48, but with seven regular season games to go along with the postseason, just about anything else is within reach. Lamont Matthews (1999) and Monty Fariss (1988) are tied with the second-most home runs in an OSU season with 30. If Ritchie hits one more home run, he’ll tie Robin Ventura’s best home-run hitting season as a Cowboy, for further reference.

“When you play baseball at OSU, to do anything that’s the most of anything, you gotta be pretty good because the dudes before us set a standard I’m not sure anyone will ever touch,” Holliday said. “Whether it’s what Pete did, or what Robin did, or what the guys on this wall did, or what many, many others did, that’s our history. We cherish it. So, we celebrate when somebody does something special.”

It was a back and forth game to get to that point.

Ethan Lund got the start on the bump and got himself in and out of a sticky situation right off the rip.

He walked TCU leadoff man Jack Arthur before Arthur stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw. Then Lund walked two-hole hitter Cole Cramer, putting runners on the corners with no outs just minutes into the game.

But then Lund answered with two straight strikeouts before Cramer took off for second and momentarily got caught in a run down before OSU shortstop Brock Thompson fired home, throwing out Arthur at the plate to get the Cowboys out of the frame.

Lund gave up a two-run shot early in the fourth and then got in further trouble in the sixth, giving up a three-run home run that saw TCU take it’s first lead of the game at 5-3.

Lund went 4 2/3 innings in the Friday start, giving up five runs on five hits while walking five and striking out 10. He hit 100 strikeouts on the season Friday, becoming the 20th Cowboy to hit the mark in a season.

Noah Wech would come on with two outs in the fifth and give up a solo shot on his first pitch, giving TCU a 6-3 lead. He gave up a hit in the sixth, but kept the Horned Frogs off the plate.

Behind Wech, Drew Blake, Kai Fyke and Hudson Barrett combined to through three really good innings, as that trio didn’t allow a hit, walked one and struck out six.

The Cowboys ended up plating the game’s first three runs.

Aidan Meola started the game’s scoring in the bottom of the first. With Brock Thompson and Ritchie is scoring position, Meola roped a ball to right-center that was initially ruled a three-run home run. TCU challenged, though, and it was determined the ball didn’t go out, sending Meola back to second while the two runners scored.

While it wasn’t a homer, Aidan Meola brings in two with an RBI double#GoPokes |@aidanmeola1 pic.twitter.com/Woa13STJ4p

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 1, 2026

Ritchie would add to the lead in the third, hitting his 23rd home run of the season. This one was also a solo shot to right field.

No doubt about this one ⚾️

Kollin Ritchie blasts a solo shot to push the lead to three#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/llii4S0aiW

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 2, 2026

After the Horned Frogs scored six unanswered to take a 6-3 lead, freshman outfielder Danny Wallace homered to right-center in the fifth. The solo shot was his third career home run.

After drawing a walk, Ritchie would score in the fifth, as well, going from first to home after a throwing error from the pitcher on a Meola single, cutting TCU’s lead to 6-5.

Ritchie tied it in the seventh with his second home run of the night. He sent this one the other way to left-center.

We told y’all he was just getting started 🫢

Kollin Ritchie ties the game in the seventh with his second homer of the night!#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/L37tFautFP

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 2, 2026

The Cowboys squandered a golden opportunity for a go-ahead run in the eighth. They had the bases loaded with one out before back-to-back strikeouts got TCU out of the jam. But luckily for the Cowboys, Ritchie didn’t let that missed opportunity linger with his ninth-inning heroics.

OSU-TCU Game 2

When: 6 p.m. Saturday
Where: O’Brate Stadium
Watch: ESPN+

Josh Holliday’s Postgame News Conference

Kollin Ritchie’s Postgame News Conference

Oklahoma State opened its series against Kansas with a 8-1 W on Friday night at Cowgirl Stadium. Warsop cracked the game open in the fourth with a base-loaded single that scored Rosie Davis and a pinch-running Gabby Castillo.

You already know what time it is.

T TIME 🚨#GoPokes | @tia_warsop pic.twitter.com/CNp1UNc2Ww

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

That draw-breaking hit came after a third inning where Warsop made a sliding catch in left field before hosing down a runner at the plate.

WHAT A PLAY FROM WARSOP 🚫

Tia makes the snag and guns the runner at the plate to keep the Jayhawks off the board! #GoPokes | @tia_warsop pic.twitter.com/LRfUrXCodU

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 1, 2026

In the Cowgirls’ past 10 games, Warsop is hitting .367 (against some tough competition) with seven runs scored and nine RBIs.

Those first two runs would be all Ruby Meylan needed — though she did get more. Meylan threw six innings — the first game she has played in since March that she didn’t pitch the full game. She gave up the one run off four hits while walking none and striking out eight.

RyLee Crandall came in and threw the final inning, allowing one hit before forcing a game-ending double-play.

Once Warsop broke the seal in that fourth inning, the runs started flowing for the Cowgirls. Warsop and Macy Graf scored on an Audrey Schneidmiller single in next at-bat in that fourth inning to make it 4-0.

Aud adds on 👏

It’s a 4⃣run fourth for the Pokes 📈#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/zG2yI52iRa

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

Then in the fifth, Claire Timm and Rosie Davis each hit solo shots to push the lead to 6-0. It was Timm’s eighth of the season and Davis’ sixth.

We don’t need any dents in that, Claire 😳 #GoPokes https://t.co/yhigMrlf6b pic.twitter.com/otmB9Goojl

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

We don’t need any dents in that, Claire 😳 #GoPokes https://t.co/yhigMrlf6b pic.twitter.com/otmB9Goojl

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

The Jayhawks plated their run in the top of the sixth before the Cowgirls quickly covered that up with back-to-back jacks in the home half of the inning.

The first came via redshirt freshman Madison Hoffman, who is on fire right now. It was her third home run of the season, all of which have come since April 22. She enters Saturday hitting .471 on the season.

Hoff’s last three ABs: HR, 3B, HR 🔥

Chat, is that good? #GoPokes https://t.co/qPoHtwzuIK pic.twitter.com/VUgj75RC2n

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

Then freshman shortstop Aubrey Jones hit her fourth round-tripper of the year two pitches later, giving the Cowgirls the 8-1 lead.

Awesome Sauce 😉 #GoPokes | @AubreyJones2025 https://t.co/SfIr34FUFI pic.twitter.com/or7qClsxsA

— OSU Cowgirl Softball (@cowgirlsb) May 2, 2026

The Cowgirls’ series against the Jayhawks continues at 2 p.m. Saturday. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Tyson Pogi, the son of former Oklahoma State quarterback Aso Pogi, announced his commitment to play basketball at Oklahoma State. Out of Southmoore, Pogi is the No. 143 player in the 2027 class, per 247Sports, which lists him as the No. 29 point guard and No. 2 Oklahoman in the cycle.

Pogi = 🧡🖤 #committed pic.twitter.com/jaavCgKcmC

— Tyson Pogi (@pogi_tyson) May 1, 2026

Pogi, listed at 6-1, was his district’s offensive player of the year as a junior this past season after averaging 27.7 points, 4.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds a game. Oklahoma State offered back last August.

“It meant a lot to me just because that’s where my dad played football,” Tyson told PFB after the offer. “And then just from them recruiting me for such a long time throughout like eighth grade all the way up to the point right now. They’ve been loyal to me, is what I would say. So, it meant a lot to know that they put that trust in me to officially throw the offer.”

Pogi had a big Peach Jam last summer, averaging 17.2 points across six games playing in the E16 division with MoKan while shooting 57% (!!) from 3.

Here’s how Tyson’s dad explained Pogi’s game to PFB:

“He’s a high-IQ, savvy point guard, can play off the pick-and-roll,” Aso said. “He does a great job of reading space, occupying space off the dribble or with the pass, occupying space with his vision. Does a good job of manipulating and getting advantages for his teammates as well as himself. I think he’s just a really good leader. He’s not a guy that doesn’t know things – he’s extremely intelligent when it comes to offensive systems, just what a head coach is trying to get done.”

Aso threw for 3,673 yards and 18 touchdowns in the early 2000s from the Cowboys while running for another nine scores. Early in his high school career, it looked like Tyson might follow in his father’s football footsteps. He was the quarterback at Mustang and took some trips up to Stillwater as a football prospect. But rather than playing on Lewis Field like he’s dad, Tyson will be playing slightly east of there on Eddie Sutton Court.

“Obviously for me, being a former OSU Cowboy, just really enjoyed my time there, but I was just more happy for him, just a goal that he set and something that he loves to do,” Aso said after Tyson’s offer. “Cool, cool experience. …

“They’ve been scouting Tyson for a long time. Keiton Page, to his credit, has built a really strong relationship with Tyson and just has watched him develop and has followed his path. So they did a wonderful job of building an individual relationship with him and not with me.”

Pogi becomes OSU’s first commitment in the 2027 class.

OSU Bullets

• Drew Mestemaker is appearing in way-too-early mock drafts – clearly one of the top-five quarterbacks for the 2027 class (PFB + PFF)

• Mike Gundy came on Collin Cowherd’s show yesterday – talked about the best player he ever coached against (X)

Mike Gundy on Colin Cowherd’s show — talking Patrick Mahomes and some of the best players he ever coached or coached against pic.twitter.com/nOWEDSyEQZ

— Cayden McFarland (@caydenmc) April 30, 2026

• Short but insightful piece on how OSU landed Drew Mestemaker – easily the most influential transfer portal add in program history.

Teams began circling Mestemaker early in the 2025 season. Multiple Power Four programs messaged CBS Sports in Week 2, gushing over Mestemaker’s tape. Early on, it was programs like UCF that were most interested. By midseason, those like LSU began to circle the redshirt freshman quarterback. By mid-December, Indiana and Oregon, among others, were extremely interested in Mestemaker. But the reality is Oklahoma State loomed as the favorite when Mestemaker announced his decision to enter the portal on Dec. 29. [CBS Sports]

• Gosh, it would be fun for the Pokes to land Dez Bryant’s son (Rivals)

• This was a super helpful explainer on the Big 12’s new private capital deal announced earlier this week:

It’s easy to get private capital and private equity confused, but they’re not exactly the same thing, and the differences are pretty important in this specific example. The Big 12, and Big 12 member institutions, aren’t actually giving up any equity, ownership or direct control to RedBird or any other institutional investor. Think of this as a relationship much closer to a loan than say, selling an ownership stake. [ExtraPoints]

Non-OSU Bullets

• Wow – the Denver Nuggets got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, what a help for the Thunder

• The more I look at the lottery reform proposal, the fewer holes it has in it.

The NBA’s proposed lottery odds reform, visualized ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rXm7FuK4oP

— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) April 29, 2026

“One of the things that I love is focusing on the process over the prize.”

Rory McIlroy