OSU Baseball: Cowboys Clobber Bearcats, Clinch Series Victory

STILLWATER — The Cowboys ended Friday with a grand slam and started Saturday with another.

The difference in timing between those two hits ended up meaning Saturday’s game wasn’t nearly as close. Oklahoma State beat Cincinnati 12-5 on a beautiful Saturday night in O’Brate Stadium. It’s the most runs the Cowboys have scored since March 19.

Aidan Meola had the grand slam Saturday. It came with one out in the bottom of the first and was Meola’s fourth home run of the year.

Today’s grand slam 🤩#GoPokes | @aidanmeola1 pic.twitter.com/Osd8WsYALf

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) April 13, 2024

It was part of a five-RBI day for Meola, as he had an RBI single that kicked off a scoring spree for the Pokes in the fifth. Meola finished 2-for-5.

He ended up being one of four Cowboys with multiple RBIs, joining Carson Benge (three), Zach Ehrhard (two) and Colin Brueggemann (two). Benge ended up being a home run shy of the cycle, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

The Cowboys went from nice lead to insurmountable lead in that fifth, where the Pokes put up seven runs. It seemed like the Cowboys had runners on the corners for the entire inning.

The frame started with Benge doubling to center before Nolan Schubart had an infield single that pushed Benge to third. Then the carousel started.

Meola’s aforementioned single scored Benge and moved Schubart to third. Then Brueggemann singled through the right side, scoring Schubart and putting Meola on third. After Avery Ortiz struck out for the first out of the frame, Friday night hero Lane Forsythe sent a ball back up the middle, scoring Meola and putting Brueggemann on third.

The runners-on-the-corners stipulation finally came to an end as Charlie Carter drew a walk to load the bases. After Jaxson Crull struck out, Ehrhard singled, scoring Brueggemann and Forsythe. That set up a Benge triple (his second extra-base hit of the inning) that cleared Ehrhard and Carter off the bases and gave OSU a 12-2 lead.

“All those hits — Zach’s hit was a big one,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “Then Carson followed him with the bases-clearing. I think those two kinda added the [four] runs, essentially. Those were the back-breakers for us because if you don’t do that, they’re still within shouting distance. I think Zach’s two-run hit and Carson’s hit were the deal-breakers for that inning.”

Brian Holiday started on the bump for the Pokes. He went six innings and gave up three runs off eight hits while walking none and striking out four.

“Brian was good,” Holliday said. “We’ve seen Brian exceptional; I thought he was really good tonight. He could’ve probably kept going, but we’ve ridden that kid pretty good. He’s a workhorse. After six, he was solid.”

He made way for Evan O’Toole in the seventh. O’Toole struggled to get going, giving up a pair of runs in the seventh before he recorded a strikeout and started a double-play that the orange-clad attendees at O’Brate enjoyed.

💎💎💎#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/UH8vpJpVsp

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) April 14, 2024

O’Toole ended up reserving some arms for the Cowboys, closing out the game’s final three innings. He finished giving up the two runs off four hits while walking one and striking out four.

After dropping their Big 12-opening series against UCF in Orlando, the Cowboys have now won four straight series and are up to 9-5 in Big 12 play. Oddly enough, the Cowboys haven’t swept a conference foe yet this season but will have the opportunity to do so Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for noon.

Josh Holliday’s Postgame News Conference