OSU Baseball: Benge Leads Cowboys Past Texas Tech in Second Round of Big 12 Tournament

BOX SCORE

The Cowboys don’t need much more with Carson Benge on their team.

Oklahoma State opened its Big 12 Baseball Championship action with a 7-2 win over Texas Tech on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, as Benge scored more runs than what he gave up from the mound. The win moved the 2 seed Cowboys to a quarterfinal game against 8 seed UCF at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. UCF will be coming off a day off after slipping past Cincinnati 6-5 in the first round Tuesday. The winner of Thursday’s contest will advance to Friday’s semifinals, awaiting whoever emerges from the consolation bracket.

With the Pokes as the home team and higher seed, Benge took the mound first Wednesday night in the last game of the day. He was nearly enough to beat Tech on his own, pitching 6 1/3 innings while striking out a career-high 10 batters and giving up only one earned run. He also didn’t give up any free bases. At the plate, Benge was 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and a stolen base. He had a double and gutted out an infield single.

Although Benge kept Tech’s bats at bay, the Cowboys’ sticks weren’t much more effective despite the score. But while Benge didn’t walk any Red Raider, Tech’s pitching staff was gifting runs to OSU. Of the Cowboys’ seven runs, five came via walk or wild pitch.

Zach Ehrhard started things with a two-run bomb over left field in the first inning. The home run also scored Benge, who doubled to left-center field his first at-bat. But after the early fireworks, neither team scored again until the bottom of the fifth, when OSU started a streak of five straight runs coming thanks to a walk or wild pitch.

Jump on ’em early

12th of the season for @Zach_Ehrhard is a 2-run 💣 to put us on top in the 1st in Arlington#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/8Ycyjvp7id

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 23, 2024

In the fifth, Ian Daugherty walked with bases loaded to score Benge (of course) from third and extend OSU’s lead to 3-0. It was then Benge at the plate in the sixth when Jack Washburn threw a wild pitch that scored Lane Forsythe.

With the Pokes already up 4-0, Gavin Kash finally put Tech on the board with a two-run homer over right field. The first run was unearned for Benge after Cade McGee reached by error. That home run ball was the last pitch Benge threw, though, as Tommy Molsky entered.

The Cowboys added three in the bottom frame after Kash’s homer, again thanks to poor pitching. Ehrhard was walked with bases loaded to score Avery Ortiz. Then it was Nolan Schubart that walked and Collin Ritchie who trotted in from third. Forsythe scored the third run of the frame on a wild pitch that went to the backstop. All those runs with bases loaded for the Cowboys, yet they were still 0-5 when bases were juiced in the game.

The conclusion of the game, which didn’t come until after midnight on Thursday, gave Benge his third win in three straight starts after spending most of the season as a reliever seeing only one inning of work at a time. He’s allowed only one earned run in each start, posting a 1.50 ERA as a starter.