Following a 2-1 series win at TCU, Texas Tech holds a two-game lead for first place in the conference standings. Oklahoma State swept Texas on the road to move into second place, one game ahead of TCU.
This week, the Cowboys and Frogs are in non-conference weekend action, while Tech travels to Kansas. With three weekends remaining in the regular season, each league team has two conference series left with the exception of Kansas and K-State, who have three.
The three teams in the top of the standings are also ranked in the top 20 nationally among five different polls this week. Tech sits as high as No. 8, TCU at No. 10 and Oklahoma State at No. 16.
The three teams have also held steady in this week’s NCAA RPI top 30 - 14. Texas Tech, 20. TCU and 27. Oklahoma State - as the Big 12 is one of three conferences with three or more teams in the top 30.
OSU improved to 10-2 on the road in conference play with its historic sweep of the Longhorns. It marked the third straight conference series road sweep for the Cowboys, who had never swept three straight league series away from home in the Big 12 era.
The Pokes’ 10 conference wins away from home is the most by a league team since 2008 when Missouri won 10 on the road. It is the 11th time in league history a team has won 10 or more conference games on the road.
For the first time since the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week award established three weekly honors in 2011, a league team swept all three awards as West Virginia claimed the Player, Pitcher and Newcomer accolades.
In the 81 conference games thus far, 35 have been decided by three runs or less with 20 by just one run. Forty-seven percent (47 of 98) of the league’s non-conference losses have been by a margin of three runs or less.
The Big 12 is the only “Power Five” conference in which a different league team has won the regular season each of the past five seasons. The Conference can boast the same feat in its postseason championship as the event has produced a different winner each of the past five years, which can not be said for the league’s peer conferences.
Entering the week, four league teams rank in the top 20 nationally in double plays - 5. TTU, 6. OSU, 18. OU and 20. K-State.
TCU’s Dalton Horton (7-0) and TTU’s Davis Martin (7-0) are two of nine pitchers nationally with seven or more wins and an undefeated record. The pair is among five freshman nationally without a loss on the season.