How Noah Wech has embraced his role as OSU's closer

Godsmack’s “Awake” echoing through the O’Brate Stadium sound system is a sight most Oklahoma State baseball delegates thoroughly relish.

It’s one OSU players and coaches have described as a spectacle that can’t be missed. Not because of the up-tempo, heavy metal ambiance of the song. But rather because of who is entering the game, and what is likely to transpire shortly after.

In comes sophomore right-hander Noah Wech, jogging to the beat of the song — which he pinpointed during fall camp — poised and ready to shut down his opposition. Each time the 6-foot-1, red-haired flamethrower takes the mound, OSU players and coaches are instantaneously with immense confidence that victory is imminent. 

How confident? Just ask his battery mate. 

“The utmost confidence,” Cowboys’ catcher Campbell Smithwick said. “Just the way that he brings the energy and he believes in himself and believes in the guys behind him to make good plays, it helps the whole team just be at ease when he enters the game because you know he’s just gonna put up zeroes and go right at it.”

So far this season, he’s done just that. Most recently, Tuesday during the Cowboys’ 8-7 home win against Missouri State. Wech retired six of seven batters faced, en route to another highlight on what has been a stellar second-year campaign.

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OSU coach Josh Holliday said he knew the talent he was gaining in Wech before he arrived on campus as a freshman. Albeit choppy, Wech’s pitch ability, stuff and sheer talent was on display in flashes over the course of his inaugural collegiate season. A sound six-inning, five-strikeout shutout outing against Duke in last year’s Athens Regional title game merely cemented Wech’s status as one of the Cowboys’ premier arms heading into the 2026 season. 

Holliday said during fall camp, Wech expressed interest in serving as a starting pitcher this season. And Holliday acknowledged Wech was in contention for that role early on. 

But as the fall progressed, he and pitching coach Blake Hawksworth had other plans.

“We said, ‘No, we’d like you to start this thing off with you in the bullpen, and you could always come back into the starting rotation if you need to, and we think you’re certainly capable, but we need you in the bullpen to begin,’” Holliday said. “We were honest and up front with him.”

Wech’s response?

“No problem, coach. I’ve got it.”

Fast-forward, Holliday’s plan has worked accordingly. 

Through five appearances and 10 1/3 innings pitched this season, Wech boasts a 0.87 ERA — as opposed to a .341 mark a year ago — to go with 14 strikeouts and a .063 opponent batting average. His pitch command has undergone a noticeable improvement, too, indicated by his 2.79 strikeout-to-walk ratio, in contrast to his 1.39 clip a season prior. Wech credited that largely with the coaching methods and “refined” philosophies of Hawksworth.

“I love him — he’s been really, really good to me,” Wech said. “He’s been great to the rest of the guys, as well. He calls great pitches for us and works with us. He’s a very trustworthy guy.

“I think the biggest thing for me with him has been his attention to detail. I’m a detail-oriented guy, which I appreciated about him. I feel like that suits me best, honestly.”

The Cowboys head into a three-game home series against Gardner-Webb, which commences Friday at 8 p.m. at O’Brate Stadium. A midweek contest against Dallas Baptist awaits Tuesday, before OSU opens conference play on the road against UCF next weekend. 

If the Cowboys want to establish themselves as viable contenders in the Big 12 race, Wech will need to be at his best. But if this season has been any indication, that will be the case moving forward.

As soon as the opening riff of “Awake” blares through O’Brate Stadium and Wech begins his jog from the bullpen, the reaction from within the home dugout says enough. Teammates rise from the bench, the crowd stirs and the confidence Smithwick described becomes palpable. For OSU players, that moment has become an all too familiar one. And most often, it indicates the Cowboys being only a few outs away from another win.

“He’s just had this positivity about him, like literally since the moment we started this (season), he’s been positive,” Holliday said. “Just the way that he’s reacted to everything and the way he’s embraced it and has been so positive about whatever the team needs, he’s set an example of people, of this culture. So, his response to everything has been positive. His determination has been positive. His ability to be coached has been positive. It’s just a different, grown-up man from a year ago.”