Oklahoma State Baseball: Recapping a Series Loss against Arizona State

Oklahoma State’s baseball team dropped its first series of the season over the weekend in Phoenix against Arizona State.

The Cowboys were blown out in the first pair of games, as they were outscored 23-3 on Friday and Saturday. The positive, however, is Josh Holliday’s team was able to avoid getting swept with a 3-2 victory Sunday in a 10-inning game. It wasn’t pretty as a whole, but at least the Cowboys aren’t coming back to Stillwater feeling completely defeated as they prepare to face Missouri State on Wednesday.

Game 1: Arizona State 9, Oklahoma State 1
Game 2: Arizona State 14, Oklahoma State 2
Game 3: Oklahoma State 3, Arizona State 2 (10 inn.)

Here’s what we learned from the series.

A pregame meeting helped OSU on Sunday

Oklahoma State Baseball’s Twitter account (@OSUBaseball) tweeted out a video following the conclusion of Sunday’s game. In the video, pitcher Carson Teel mentioned a meeting the team had before the series finale.

“We kinda decided that we had enough of this,” Teel said in the video. “We got embarrassed the first few nights. We didn’t want that to happen again, so we went out there with a lot of pride for the “OS,” for the name on the front of our jersey, and we got it done.”

Teel’s extended relief appearance was clutch in Sunday’s victory

C.J. Varela started the series finale, allowing two hits and an unearned run in 2 2/3 innings. Teel entered in relief and pitched the remainder of the game, which allowed OSU to save the rest of its bullpen from fatigue.

Teel allowed only one earned run and struck out five on his way to securing a win, his first of the season. So far in 2018, Teel has 14 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings, a 1.98 ERA and three saves.

The offense is in a bit of a lull

The Cowboys averaged two runs per contest this weekend and needed dominant pitching Sunday to secure a victory. There are going to be plenty of games like that throughout the course of a season, but the bats need to wake up. OSU has scored at least five runs in half of its games this season, so we know they’re capable of providing sustainable offense.

It’s also important to give credit to ASU’s pitching staff. They’ve held opponents to three runs or fewer in five of six outings this year.

Cowboys win! #okstate finally gets in the back in the win column after defeating ASU in 10 innings. #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/bcIWEwOv3k

— Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) March 4, 2018

Explosive ASU innings killed the Cowboys on Saturday

OSU allowed the Sun Devils to score in three innings of Saturday’s game. The problem, however, was the fact that ASU pushed seven across the plate in the fifth and scored six two innings later. You can afford to give away a run or two here and there, especially when your offense is going, but the ability to stop the bleeding and get out of an inning is a must. Holliday has spoken about his pitchers’ ability to get out of a jam this season. We just didn’t see it Saturday.