Games 47-49: Arizona State  •  May 15-17 / 6 p.m., 6 p.m., 12 p.m.  •  Stillwater, Okla.  •  O’Brate Stadium (8,000)

TV: ESPN+ (Dave Hunziker & Tom Holliday)
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network & The Varsity App    KSPI 93.7 FM / KSPI 780 AM    okla.state/GetVarsity    (Rex Holt & Matt Davis)
Stats: okstate.statbroadcast.com
X: @osubaseball (in-game scoreboard/updates)
Series: Cowboys lead, 18-17
Last: 3/8/23 in Stillwater; Cowboys won, 7-4

• Oklahoma State is 24-22 and coming off a series win at Baylor in which the Cowboys won the first two games of the series.

• Up next, the Cowboys conclude the regular season when they host Arizona State in a Thursday-Saturday series at O’Brate Stadium.

• OSU is 12-12 in Big 12 play and eighth in the conference standings.

• The Pokes own a .256 team batting average and .459 slugging percentage and are averaging 6.5 runs per game. Colin Brueggemann leads OSU with a .316 batting average, 11 doubles and 48 RBIs to go along with 12 home runs.

• OSU’s pitching staff sports a 4.36 ERA; the Cowboys rank among the nation’s best in shutouts (5), strikeouts per nine innings (10.2) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.64).

• Arizona State is 35-18 and brings a three-game winning streak to Stillwater after a Tuesday night run-rule win at home vs. Grand Canyon.

• At 18-9 in Big 12 play, the Sun Devils are second in the conference standings.  

• The Sun Devils are hitting a Big 12-best .322 as a team and averaging nearly nine runs per game. Matt King is hitting a team-high .386, while Isaiah Jackson leads ASU with 15 homers and 62 RBIs.

• ASU’s pitching staff sports a 5.18 ERA and has 578 strikeouts and 229 walks in 460 2/3 innings.

• OSU owns an 18-17 advantage in the all-time series and has won the last six meetings. OSU is 11-5 against the Sun Devils under head coach Josh Holliday. 

While the sports world is focused on the NBA and NHL Playoffs, something nefarious is happening in college football. No, true believer, the college football world isn’t rescinding NIL and the Transfer Portal.

However, a significant change appears, influencing how the college football playoff selection process will select its top teams. And you can blame Boise State for once again being the great disruptor of the game.

Years ago, the Bowl Championship Series, BCS, was designed to highlight the big market schools and eliminate any opportunity for any team outside their cartel from competing and crashing their party.

The Boise State Broncos, who defeated Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, provided a blueprint for beating the BCS. The cartel eliminated the BCS, moving to a two-team, four-team, and now twelve-team playoff.

Boise State surprised the world last year by securing a first-round bye because it was one of the four highest-ranked conference champions. Pundits and the commissioner of the Big 12, whose team was behind Boise State, were outraged.

Although it would’ve been insane for the Broncos to host a playoff game on the Blue they settled for playing Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl. Although Boise State lost, several power brokers vowed never to let their top finish happen again.

CBS Sports reports that the college football cartel plans to eliminate conference champions’ first-round byes, as Kevin Miller would say, so much for letting them compete on the field.

This is the last year of the current agreement, meaning all conferences and Notre Dame must agree to the change. Next year, only the Big 10 and SEC will decide the format.

We’ll continue to update you on this developing story.

While speaking with the media on Wednesday at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, former Alabama football coach Nick Saban said he wasn’t sure what the rumored presidential commission on college athletics would be tasked with doing.

Saban, who is reportedly set to co-chair the commission after recently meeting with President Donald Trump, emphasized his commitment to help college football be better.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know much about this commission. I don’t really know what this commission would do,” Saban told reporters. “You know, I think we know what needs to be done, I just think we’ve got to figure out who’s got the will to do it.”

“I learned one thing about coaching for all these years, that, you know, when you get into a subject like this, that’s very complex. It’s probably good not to talk about it off the cuff,” he continued. “So, I’ll find out more about it, and if there’s something I can do to help college football be better, I’m always going to be committed to do that. I was committed to do that as a coach, to help players be more successful in life, and I would continue to do the same thing now.”

Saban left Alabama’s head coaching gig abruptly in January 2024. He later cited the landscape of college football with NIL, the transfer portal and other aspects for retiring.

The legendary coach reportedly told Trump that he believed the influx of money had damaged college sports.

To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].

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May 13—MITCHELL — Harrisburg, the top team in the Class AA softball standings, unleashed 18 runs and 13 hits in three innings, cruising to an 18-2 victory over Mitchell on Tuesday at the Cadwell Sports Complex.

Harrisburg scored four runs in the first, five more in the second inning and blew open the game with nine runs in the third inning to lead 18-0 after 2 1/2 innings. Mitchell committed seven errors in the loss.

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The Tigers, who had won 12 of the last 13 games prior to Tuesday, had four RBIs from Anna Simunek and a three-run home run from Kennedy Kokenge. Ava Gross posted four hits and Jersee Thomas and Maleia Knutson each had two hits for Harrisburg. Kylie Visker was the winning pitcher with three hits and two runs allowed and one strikeout in three innings of work.

The Kernels’ Matteah Graves had an RBI triple and scored a run, while Lauren Van Overschelde also drove in a run and Jasmine Dirkes had a double and a run scored. Mitchell had Rylee Jennings, Brooklyn Schlimgen and Macey Linke pitch in the game, with Jennings taking the loss with 2 1/3 innings pitched, seven hits and 10 runs (seven earned) and three walks.

Harrisburg (13-2) takes on Rapid City Stevens at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15 in Sioux Falls.

Mitchell (5-9) will travel to Brookings on May 16 in a makeup game from earlier in the season before closing the regular-season schedule on May 23 by hosting Tea Area.