Oral Roberts has been the biggest story of the 2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.
The Golden Eagles have shocked the baseball world by going from a No. 4 regional seed to reaching the College World Series, becoming only the third regional No. 4 seed to reach Omaha after eventual champion Fresno State in 2008 and Stony Brook in 2012.
There are many reasons why Oral Roberts has advanced this far, and the performance of Jonah Cox is certainly one of the biggest. Cox entered Friday's game against TCU leading Division I players in hits with 110. He has posted an impressive .420/.480/.668 slash line with 11 home runs and 28 stolen bases in 31 attempts.
As Oral Roberts chases history, looking to become only the second regional No. 4 seed to win the title, Cox was chasing a bit of history on his own. He came into Friday's game with a 47-game hitting streak, having tallied a hit in each contest since a March 12 game against Dallas Baptist. Adding to the impressiveness of his season, that's also the only game all season in which he doesn't have a hit, having notched at least one in his 15 prior contests.
But while the Golden Eagles continued their march toward history, Cox's run came to an end, as he went 0-for-5 in the 6-5 win against TCU.
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Where does Cox's hitting streak rank in NCAA Division I history, and what could his future hold? Here's what you need to know.
Longest NCAA hitting streaks
Everyone knows the MLB record for the longest hitting streak is 56 games by Joe DiMaggio. The NCAA Division I record is slightly longer.
According to the NCAA record book, Oklahoma State's Robin Ventura, who later went on to have a standout 16-year MLB career, set the record for the longest hitting streak in Division I history with 58 consecutive games in 1987. Back in 2010, Florida International's Garrett Wittels came close, tallying hits in 56 consecutive games between Feb. 19 and June 5 before his run came to an end.
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But that's the extent of the longest hitting streaks ahead of Cox's run. His 47 games in a row matched the totals from Phil Stephenson and Kenton Parmley for the third-longest of all time.
| Player | Team | Year | Streak |
| Robin Ventura | Oklahoma State | 1987 | 58 |
| Garret Wittels | Florida International | 2010 | 56 |
| Phil Stephenson | Wichita State | 1981 | 47 |
| Kenton Parmley | Southeast Missouri State | 2011-12 | 47 |
| Jonah Cox | Oral Roberts | 2023 | 47 |
| Roger Schmuck | Arizona State | 1971 | 45 |
| Chuck Abbott | Austin Peay | 1996 | 42 |
| Rusty Adkins | Clemson | 1965-66 | 41 |
| Todd Nace | Southern Mississippi | 1989-90 | 41 |
| Michael Campo | Penn State | 2000 | 41 |
| Jarod Berggren | Northern Colorado | 2010 | 41 |
| Brandon Caraway | Houston | 2005 | 40 |
| Shane Robinson | Florida State | 2004-05 | 40 |
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Jonah Cox MLB Draft
Cox has had a unique path to this point. He began his college baseball career in 2021 as a freshman at Butler Community College, where he hit .397 with a .472 on-base percentage and 10 home runs and added 49 stolen bases. He transferred to Eastern Oklahoma State College, where, again, he torched the competition with a .431/.502/.631 slash with three homers and 43 stolen bases.
He then transferred again, this time to Oral Roberts, where he has been the offensive leader for the Golden Eagles. The son of former Expos outfielder Darron Cox, who appeared in 15 games in 1999, Cox has gone from a pair of transfers to one of the top draft prospects in the 2023 MLB class.
MLB Pipeline grades Cox as the No. 160 player in the class, giving him a 55-grade hit tool (signaling just above average) and a 65-grade speed tool (almost well above-average). If he were to go at No. 160, he'd be drafted toward the end of the fifth round.
