OSU Baseball: Cowboys Out of Tuscaloosa Regional after 11-Inning Thriller against Alabama

BOXSCORE

The Cowboys had to fight an uphill battle to make it to the Tuscaloosa Regional Final, but fight they did.

Oklahoma State fell to Alabama 9-7 in 11 innings. The Cowboy rallied from a 5-3 deficit, took a 6-5 lead into the eighth and then duked it out for three tough innings with the No. 13 team in the country on their home field.

Brock Thompson and Kollin Ritchie hit back-to-back solo home runs in the seventh to give the Pokes their first lead at 6-5, but it didn’t last long. Alabama freshman Eric Hines’ solo moonshot tied it at 6 in the eighth, and it was a battle the rest of the way. The Cowboys’ defense held Alabama’s bats in check, and OSU’s offense put tons of pressure on the Tides’ D. But a couple of big plays by Bama’s catcher and some missed opportunities made the difference.

Ritchie 🚀

Another clutch 💣 for Ritchie Rich#GoPokes | @RitchieKollin pic.twitter.com/3KCSNbERh4

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) June 1, 2026

The Cowboys’ bats were hot all day, but they couldn’t quite take advantage of some big opportunities. After racking up six home runs in their earlier win over USC-Upstate on Sunday, the Cowboys added four more in the title game. But again and again, they were one swing away from forcing and winner-take-all game on Monday, and they just couldn’t make it happen.

The Cowboys were the home team in Tuscaloosa and loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings of a tied game while their defense continued to get outs.

With two outs in the eighth, Garrett Shull singled to right field, and then Remo Inomenico singled and Deacon Pomeroy was hit by a pitch. With bases loaded and two away, Alex Conover came to the plate. He went 0-for-5 on the game and had been 0-for-4 in the earlier contest against USC-Upstate. He had clipped one to right field but was out at first to strand three Pokes in a tied game going into the ninth.

Conover did secure the Pokes’ second and third outs in the ninth on defense. The first came on a circus play from Avery Ortiz who climbed the ladder to catch a line drive toward left field.

In the ninth, new Bama pitcher Hagan Banks retired both Brock Thompson and Kollin Ritchie swinging before Ortiz made another play. He cracked a breaking ball to left center to get on base and bring up Campbell Smithwick who cracked one to left that was fumbled, and Ortiz advanced to third. Colin Brueggemann got a free pass to load the bases for the second-straight inning, but Banks struck out Shull swinging.

In the 10th, the Cowboys went with freshman Elijah Essex as a DH to get some speed on the bag. But he was caught stealing at second by catcher Brady Neal, his first time caught this season. Then Neal made an even bigger play on his next at-bat. He cranked a three-run homer over the right-field fence to give Bama a 9-6 lead in the 11th.

After those back-to-back tries, OSU was 1-for-10 with bases loaded over the weekend. But they would get another shot in the 11th and final inning, and this time they actually scored.

Garrett Shull kept this game from dying taking a strike and then five-straight foul balls to before his RBI single that cut it to 9-7. But Banks was able to strike out Indomenico to end the game.

With the loss, the Cowboys’ season ends at 39-22. The Cowboys fought through a tough start to the regional and got their licks in, a microcosm for the season. OSU got hot late in the year, winning its last four series to finish fifth in the Big 12 and secure the 2 seed in a regional.

With the win, the Crimson Tide will now host the Super Regional against the winner of the Tallahassee Regional.