OSU Baseball: Cowboys Rout BYU 17-5 Behind Six Home Runs

BOX SCORE

It took the Oklahoma State football team until the fourth quarter to reach 17 against BYU this past fall. It took the baseball team eight innings to reach that same mark Thursday night.

The Cowboys hammered BYU 17-5 in Game 1 of the Big 12 series as seven home runs left O’Brate Stadium. OSU is now on a three-game winning streak after losing three in a row before that.

Although the scoring started early for the Cowboys on Thursday, the long balls didn’t come until later. After BYU struck first with a run in the first, OSU answered with four in the bottom half, starting with a Nolan Schubart single with bases loaded that scored Lane Forsythe. Zach Ehrhard and Carson Benge then scored thanks to a throwing error to erase BYU’s lead before the Cougars even got their first out. Avery Ortiz added one more with an RBI single down the left-field line.

With severe weather in the forecast that even postponed the scheduled Cowgirl softball game down McElroy Road, the home runs started raining down in the second inning for the Pokes. First it was Schubart over the left-field wall, also scoring Ehrhard. Then it was Ian Daugherty, also over left field, for back-to back home runs.

The pair of HRs.#GoPokes | @NolanSchubart | @iandaugherty22 pic.twitter.com/LbFTDazQye

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) April 26, 2024

Benge then hit one the other way in the fourth inning. Then Schubart hit the second of that inning and his second of the game. In the fifth, it was Ortiz beyond left field, then Benge with his second of the night, this time over left-center. Not to be left out, Cooper Vest notched a home run for BYU in the ninth.

We’re running out of captions for home runs. Help us out.#GoPokes | @Carsonbenge3 pic.twitter.com/6YCdDvhdcH

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) April 26, 2024

Benge wasn’t just deadly at the plate, though, going 3-for-4 with the pair of homers, three RBIs and four runs. Benge started on the mound, pitching five innings, giving up only the first-inning run and four walks while picking up the win. He struck out six BYU batters.

The Cowboys led 12-1 by the time the home-run downpour ended in the fifth. The conclusion of homers didn’t mean the end of scoring, though. OSU scored three more in the seventh — two from a Daugherty double and one via a Jaxson Crull sac fly. Then it was two more in the eighth, as Max Knight pinched hit to double in Forsythe and Schubart singled in Knight.

Weather has altered this series, as the two teams are set to play a doubleheader on Friday. The first game of that doubleheader starts at 2 p.m.