OSU Baseball: Cowboys Take Series over TCU with 9-2 Win

BOXSCORE

The Cowboys secured a statement series win in a game that produced an iconic ejection by TCU’s head coach.

Oklahoma State defeated TCU 9-2 to earn the Cowboys’ fourth Big 12 series win. The Cowboys poured it on late, but it was a defensive battle for more than half of the evening.

Both teams were scoreless through five before things finally broke loose. The Horned Frogs scored on a two-RBI double by Chase Brunson. The Cowboys countered with runs of their own in the sixth off sac-fly’s by Campbell Smithwick and Avery Ortiz, who played in his first game in about a month.

The Cowboys kept scoring, but the Frogs didn’t. OSU scored three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth.

A day after Kollin Ritchie made history with his 23rd, 24th and 25th home runs of the season (including the walk-off game-winner), the Frogs were resigned to leave him be. Ritchie was 1-for-1 and was walked four times. But two of those walks resulted in runs, including a run in the seventh when he scored from first base on an Aidan Meola double.

While TCU pitched around Ritchie, they couldn’t avoid all the Pokes’ bats. Five Cowboys drove in runs including a solo home run from Ortiz in the eighth and a two-run homer by Garrett Shull later in that inning, his 12th bomb of the year.

Stormy Rhodes got the start from the mound and lasted 5 2/3 innings. He allowed those two runs in the sixth but struck out six batters. Mario Pesca picked up the win, moving to 5-3 on the season. In 3 1/3 innings he allowed just one hit, walked two Frogs and struck out six.

In a peculiar turn of events, TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos was ejected for arguing an overturned call that saw Danny Wallace ruled safe after originally being called out at third. Saarloos made sure the officials understood his point of view and then, after he was ejected, he went back to the first-base dugout, grabbed his leather briefcase and then took a very long stroll across the field.

TCU manager Kirk Saarloos got ejected and proceeded to grab his leather briefcase then take over a minute to walk across the field before leaving pic.twitter.com/cIqFVVz8ex

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 3, 2026

With the win, the Cowboys improve to 30-17 on the year and 19-5 in conference play. The Pokes will go for the sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday at O’Brate Stadium.