Oklahoma State Drops Two of Three to OU in Baseball

Football, basketball and now baseball. With Sunday’s victory in Tulsa the Sooners have now completed the major sports Bedlam sweep over the Cowboys. Wrestling is the only thing that can ease the pain.

On a dreary Friday night in Oklahoma City Thomas Hatch saw his streak of three consecutive shutouts snapped in the series opener. With the Pokes leading 1-0 in the fourth, former OU quarterback Cody Thomas launched a three-run homer that ended Hatch’s 33-inning scoreless streak. Hatch would go on to give up seven runs in total giving him his second loss of the season.

OSU only managed one run off OU starter Jake Irvin coming on an RBI-single from J.R. Davis, one of his two hits. Ryan Sluder joined Davis as the only other OSU player with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 in the 9-1 loss.

OSU evened the series in an offensive shootout, winning 10-9 on Saturday as the series moved to Tulsa. Nineteen runs were scored on 26 hits and 11 total pitchers were used in an exciting Game 2. The Cowboys tagged Alec Hansen for six runs before he was lifted midway through the third inning.

In the fourth inning Dustin Williams hit his 12th home run of the season, a two-run shot that put the Pokes up 8-3. Jon Littell and Corey Hassel would add RBIs in the seventh, stretching the lead to 10-3.

Coach Holliday would call on his reliable closer Tyler Buffett in the eighth inning with a five-run lead, a seemingly manageable situation. However, Buffett clearly did not have his best stuff, surrendering three walks and three hits, which allowed four runs to score for the Sooners. Buffett was lifted, and Michael Mertz retired Sheldon Nuese with the bases loaded to seal a narrow victory.

Thomas continued to trouble the Cowboys on Sunday in Game 3 with a two-RBI double in the first inning off OSU starter Trey Cobb, the only runs he gave up in his six innings of work. Cobb struck out eight hitters in his seventh loss of the season.

Donnie Walton had the lone RBI, a single in another weak offensive performance in the 3-1 loss.

Even after a disappointing result such as this the Cowboys still have an RPI of 23 and their hosting chances remain alive. However, this puts an increasing importance on a midweek matchup with Oral Roberts on Tuesday and the final Big 12 series against Kansas this weekend.

While it can still host a regional OSU sits four games behind Texas Tech with a 13-8 record and cannot win the Big 12 regular season title. The Cowboys have a one-game lead over TCU for the second spot in the conference and the Horned Frogs play a weak Kansas State starting Friday.

The Cowboys control their own destiny for the No. 2 spot and can clinch it with just two victories over the Jayhawks as they hold the tiebreaker over the Horned Frogs.

Here are the new Big 12 standings.