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OSU baseball: On the Super Regional stage, Joe Lienhard can help the Cowboys with his arm and his emotion

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State starting pitcher Joe Lienhard was in the middle of a gem of a pitching performance that helped the Cowboys claim a regional championship Monday night when the ESPNU broadcast cut to an old video.

It was grainy tape from the mid-1980s showing former Cowboy Steve Lienhard, Joe’s father, pitching in the College World Series at Omaha’s old Rosenblatt Stadium.

Quite a lot has changed about baseball, the Cowboys and the College World Series since that video, but one image was unmistakable: the Lienhard smile.

Joe’s smile hides behind his beard a little more than his dad’s did on a clean-shaven face, but it’s clearly the same one that has been a staple in the Cowboy dugout since Joe arrived in the fall of 2015.