3 takeaways from OSU at the College Baseball Showdown

caught a glimpse of the issue over the weekend, and it didn’t appear to be promising for the Cowboys.

Daniel Allen Staff Reporter

The No. 9-ranked Cowboys finished 1-2 at the College Baseball Showdown, allowing 29 runs in its latter two games, even featuring the worst loss of the Josh Holliday era in Stillwater.

Here are three takeaways from OSU’s inaugural three games of its 2023 campaign.

Bullpen depth is thin:

From Friday’s season opener to the showcase finale on Sunday, OSU utilized nine different bullpen arms, eight of which were freshmen or newcomers without any D1 experience.

In that span, the Cowboys surrendered 32 runs on 33 hits. The unit allowed the highest run total among all six teams participating in the event.

OSU coach Josh Holliday described Brian Hendry, a transfer from Saint John’s, as someone who, “can really light it up.” Carson Benge, a two-way talent, was refrained from throwing while still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

The pitching staff will progressively regain its health. When arms such as Hendry, Benge or others are being rested or have already been utilized in a series, who will emerge in their place? OSU

Infield defense still superb: Amid the bullpen issues, the quality defense within the infield, at times, kept the Cowboys in range of a potential win. There were instances on Friday when Missouri threatened with runners-in-scoring-position, however, remarkable defensive effort allowed OSU to prevail on Opening Day.

Runners in scoring position struggles resurface: sports.ed@ocolly.com

The Cowboy offense showcased its offensive potential in last season’s Stillwater Regional, scoring 68 runs in that five-game stretch.

When the batting order was rolling, it was practically nonpareil among other Big 12 teams. Yet, when strikeouts and struggles with runners-in-scoring-position resurfaced, the team was at times a polar opposite from what many had seen for the majority of the year.

On opening weekend at the College Baseball Showdown, OSU left 23 runners on base – 11 of which were stranded in scoring position. Of course, baseball is a sport compiled by ebbs and flows. Yet, if OSU wants to attain any chance at more than a regional appearance, capitalizing on those opportune moments is vital.

Dahl’s...

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Dahl, one of the most popular children’s authors of the 20th century, died in 1990 at the age of 74, and in 2021, the streaming service Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Co., which manages the rights to the author’s characters and stories, and which had already begun reviewing Dahl’s work alongside Puffin before the Netflix sale. Dahl’s books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide, with transla- tions in 63 languages.

“We want to ensure that Roald Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today,” the Roald Dahl Story Co. said in a statement. “When publishing new print runs of books written years ago, it’s not unusual to review the language used alongside updating other details including a book’s cover and page layout. Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered.”

Roald Dahl Story Co. spokesman

Rick Behari added in an email that “the overall changes are small both in terms of actual edits which have been made and also in terms of the overall percentage of texts which has been changed.”

Dahl’s work, like his life, has its unsettling moments and has long been subject to update, revision and apology by other creatives laboring to bring his art to mass audiences.

In the first edition of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” published in 1964, the Oompa-Loompas helping Willy Wonka were originally described as African Pygmy people whom Wonka had “smuggled” out of Africa in crates to live and work in his factory. Facing pressure from Black actors and groups such as the NAACP after America’s

Courtesy of Tribune news.ed@ocolly.com

Civil Rights era, the 1971 film made the Oompa-Loompas orange-skinned with green hair. In a 1973 revision of the book, Dahl recast the Oompa-Loompas as white and fantastical instead of Black and African.

In 2020, the actor Anne Hathaway apologized for her depiction of Grand High Witch in Robert Zemeckis’ adaptation of “The Witches” in which the character had three fingers, angering disability advocates over a negative portrayal of limb of differences. The same year, Dahl’s family apologized for his history of making antisemitic remarks.