STILLWATER — Last summer, Nolan Schubart was frustrated and confused about his baseball future, so he picked up his cell phone and found the number of a person who might have some answers.

Matt Holliday.

Schubart, a longtime Michigan commitment, was looking for a college home. Wolverines coach Eric Bakich was going to Clemson.

“I was 100% in at Michigan,” Schubart said. “And then everything kind of flipped.”

Schubart was hoping Holliday — the father of Schubart’s summer ball teammate and good friend Jackson Holliday — would have some guidance. Perhaps Oklahoma State, where Matt was a volunteer coach at the time, was a possibility.

It turned out to be a no-doubter.

Schubart was quickly on the phone with Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday. The next day, Schubart was in a car making a 987-mile trip from Durand, Michigan, to Stillwater.

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A few days later, he was a Cowboy.

“That was a great July pickup for us,” Josh said.

Michigan’s loss has turned out to be OSU’s gain.

When the Cowboys travel to Michigan this weekend for a three-game series, Schubart will return to the place he once considered home as one of OSU’s top hitters.

“I think it’s going to be really meaningful to be able to get back home and play in front of all my family and friends,” Schubart told The Oklahoman. “I think it’ll be cool to play the team where I thought I was going to go, but ultimately it’s another weekend series on that side.

“You can’t put too much thought into the team we’re playing is.”

But it’s impossible to ignore the weight of the moment.

Schubart, a 6-foot-5 outfielder, has proven he is one of the best true freshmen in the country. He is batting .338 with nine home runs and 40 RBIs, holding his own against a grueling schedule.

He’s had big blasts and big moments — a walk-off hit to clinch a series against Texas stands out — as he’s shown tremendous poise rare in young players.

“It is unique,” Josh Holliday said. “I think he conducts himself in a fashion that any player would aspire to grow into. His consistency, his demeanor, his body language, his facial expressions, his internal ability to move on from previous things, I think his self confidence — all those things really stand out.

“He seems to be as grounded and stable of who he is on an every-day basis as you could ever hope for as a player. The fact that he’s young is exciting.”

Schubart had to mature at a young age.

He went to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Prep — a Catholic, college preparatory school his father also attended — as a freshman, moving to the campus in the Detroit suburb 54 miles from his hometown.

There, Schubart became a key member of one of the top programs in the country. He led the way to three state titles. St. Mary’s was 77-1 in Schubart’s final two seasons.

That allowed him to mature away from home.

“I had to from a young age learn how to live on my own,” Schubart said, “and take what was given to me at school and use it to the best of my capabilities to maximize what I was given.”

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When things went south with Michigan, Schubart was poised in the chaos.

He had played two summers with Jackson Holliday, who was the No. 1 overall MLB draft pick last summer. They became good friends. They often talked about OSU, where Holliday had signed a National Letter of Intent.

So, the Cowboys were always on Schubart’s radar.

It was natural for him to turn to the Hollidays when he was released from his NLI at Michigan.

“This was the right place for me,” Schubart said.

He was a natural fit, on and off the field.

He’s hit mammoth home runs and is shaking out of a skid that dropped his batting average from above .400. He had six hits in four games last week, including a homer.

With that, Schubart is showing both his value now and in the long-term for the Cowboys.

He’s not draft eligible until after his junior season, which will allow him to grow even more in a program he never expected to join.

But some things work out better than expected.

“We’ve had some awesome kids but we haven’t necessarily gotten the full three, four years with them,” Josh Holliday said. “Just what he brings on a daily basis is special and who he is and what he can become is obviously a lot of fun.”

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OSU vs. Michigan

WHEN: 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday

WHERE: Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich.

STREAMING: Big Ten Network+ (subscription required)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State freshman Nolan Schubart faces Michigan in return home