OSU Baseball Hauls In No. 5 Recruiting Class In NCAA

Oklahoma State's 2014 baseball recruiting class is ranked the fifth best in the nation by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, it was announced by the publication today. It marks the second-straight year that the Cowboys' recruiting class has been ranked No. 5 by Collegiate Baseball.

The Cowboys' class includes 15 newcomers — nine freshmen and six from the junior college ranks. The class includes two players — outfielder Jon Littell and infielder David Petrino — who were drafted in last June's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The talent-rich state of Oklahoma proved to be strong recruiting ground for the Cowboys as 10 of the newcomers hail from the state, including eight who were among the state's top prep players last season.

“This is a very talented group of young men, a group that up-and-down the list brings unique skills and will help strengthen not only this year's team, but provide great stability for years to come,” said OSU third-year head coach Josh Holliday. “I like the leadership qualities and work ethic of this group. Many of these kids come to us with winning backgrounds, and they already know what it means to be a teammate. Many of them turned down substantial opportunities from professional baseball to become Cowboys, and we look for them to make an immediate impact on this year's team.

“This is a physical group of kids, many already have great presence in the uniform, and now we need to work every day to get better as we build our team concepts.”

Holliday credited the work of OSU assistant coach coaches Marty Lees and Rob Walton as paramount to the signing class but added there are numerous people across the OSU campus who played a role in helping sign the newest crop of Cowboys.

“Marty (Lees) and Rob (Walton) have worked extremely hard from the first day we were hired to build quality relationships with the right kids,” Holliday said. “They are relentless in their pursuit of well-rounded players who want to play in a true team environment. Their efforts and those of all the awesome people at Oklahoma State make recruiting to our university a labor of love — to bring kids and their families and share with them the unique qualities that the school has to offer is something we love to do.

“We are thankful to everyone who has helped make this campus and university such a warm and welcoming place.”

Collegiate Baseball ranked LSU's recruiting class as the best in the nation, followed by Wichita State, Florida and San Diego.