July 23: The Cowboy blues

Another week, another streak for the Wichita State Shockers, sustaining their 18 game lead over a Texas A&M team unable to make up any ground.   Given the lack of action at the top, let's continue our look at the bottom of the standings, turning to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who are currently one game out of the cellar.  With that one game margin being over the other 1985 entry in this league, the MSU Bulldogs, it is starting to become apparent why neither of these teams won the '85 CWS.  So what's the story with the Cowboys?

Who's Getting It Done:   This team lived and died with Pete Incaviglia, and Inky is living up to his end of the bargain, leading the league in both homers (29) and RBI (93) and raising his batting average to a respectable .267 after an ice-cold April.  Teammate Doug Dascenzo has also been great, batting .310 with a .419 OBP and 63 stolen bases from the leadoff position, and his glove in CF has been stellar.  Although C Mike Day is only hitting .230, he's drawn 113 walks, stolen 26 bases, and has no errors.   On the mound, spot starter Rob Walton (6-4, 2.38) has probably been the Cowboys' most effective starter in his limited opportunities, and Jeff Bronkey has won 8 games coming out of the pen.

Dascenzo:  "I got it!"

Who's Not:  The starting pitching has been dreadful, with the top three OSU starters each issuing over 100 walks already this season.  Of course, it's hard to blame the OSU pitchers for not wanting to give opposing batters much to hit, as hardly anyone on the Cowboys has much of a chance of catching a ball hit to them.  It's a good thing CF Dascenzo has great range, because LF Incavligia (35 errors) and RF Billy Smith (21 errors) can't catch a cold on either side of him, and the OSU infield hasn't been much better.  And the bottom of the rotation, other than Walton, has been a recipe for disaster, with six different starters collectively accounting for a 6-20 record.  It is probably far too late for OSU to catch fire, but doing so would require the pitchers to throw strikes, and the fielders to catch balls.   Simple but elusive concepts for the Cowboys in this sim.


Oklahoma State Cowboys **Team Batting Stats**
Last          First   AVE   G    AB   SO   BB  H    2B  3B  HR  R   RBI  SB  E   
Smith         Billy   .269  105  428  63   59  115  21  6   3   65  63   37  21  
Dascenzo      Doug    .310  105  422  51   79  131  28  4   4   77  42   63  6   
Diaz          Carlos  .223  105  417  91   29  93   14  0   7   29  47   6   1   
Incaviglia    Pete    .267  105  409  103  66  109  26  0   29  65  93   18  35  
Fowler        Kevin   .199  105  392  108  20  78   10  1   13  48  51   17  35  
Whisler       Randy   .237  105  389  79   46  92   14  6   0   42  23   32  16  
Espinal       Sergio  .250  105  372  128  50  93   15  3   0   57  21   37  34  
Day           Mike    .230  105  366  50   113 84   11  2   15  67  69   26  0   
Barragan      Jimmy   .233  89   352  41   31  82   17  3   5   30  37   1   0   
Kostishion    Bryan   .228  16   57   22   18  13   1   0   2   6   6    1   0   
-             -       .247  1262 3604 736  511 890  157 25  78  486 452  238 150

Oklahoma State Cowboys **Team Pitching Stats**
Last          First    ERA   G    GS   CG W  L   SV  IP    SO   BB   H    R    ER  
Giordanella   Joe      3.79  21   21   0  6  10  0   142.2 136  128  101  66   60   
Lambert       Reese    6.66  21   21   0  5  12  0   120.1 113  107  152  104  89   
Trapasso      Mike     5.38  18   18   0  5  9   0   118.2 108  130  98   83   71   
Long          Jimmy    6.48  18   18   0  2  11  0   108.1 76   66   132  96   78   
Bronkey       Jeff     3.99  66   0    0  8  2   2   94.2  76   36   114  55   42   
Walton        Rob      2.38  13   13   0  6  4   0   90.2  62   33   76   40   24   
Lienhard      Steve    6.78  48   0    0  5  4   2   78.1  65   55   105  70   59   
Bartolomucci  Anthony  3.29  74   4    0  2  0   1   76.2  72   52   66   36   28   
Dillard       Gordie   3.48  25   3    0  1  6   16  44.0  48   38   38   20   17   
Bayley        Chris    2.31  5    5    0  1  1   0   35.0  23   5    30   12   9    
Tate          Chuck    11.05 6    0    0  0  3   0   7.1   3    2    15   9    9    
Johnson       Ron      5.14  1    1    0  0  1   0   7.0   4    3    8    4    4    
Rockman       Marv     6.43  1    1    0  0  1   0   7.0   5    2    10   5    5    
-             -        4.79       105  0  41 64  21  930.2 791  657  945  600  495   

College Greats League Standings 

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10  STRK 
1982      Wichita State Shockers   82   23   .781  -    8-2  W1   
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         64   41   .610  18.0 7-3  L1   
1997      LSU Tigers               53   52   .505  29.0 4-6  L2   
2001      Miami Hurricanes         53   52   .505  29.0 5-5  L1   
1983      Texas Longhorns          50   55   .476  32.0 6-4  W1   
1995      Cal State Fullerton Titan49   56   .467  33.0 6-4  W2   
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 49   56   .467  33.0 4-6  W1   
1971      USC Trojans              44   61   .419  38.0 5-5  W3   
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   41   64   .390  41.0 3-7  L2   
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      40   65   .381  42.0 2-8  L1