OSU Baseball: Cowboys Salvage Opening-Weekend Series with 19-2 Win

BOX SCORE

After starting their season with a pair of losses, the Cowboys got to let out any potential frustration Sunday.

Oklahoma State beat Sam Houston 19-2 on Sunday in Huntsville after the Bearkats bested the Pokes in the series’ opening two games.

OSU busted things open with a seven-run third inning before the Cowboys hammered their point home with an 11-run fifth.

Taking a 1-0 lead into the third, Tyler Wulfert got the rally started with a single through the left side that scored Zach Ehrhard. Nolan Schubart then hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Carson Benge.

Aidan Meola then singled to score Wulfert before a Lane Forsythe single scored Jaxson Crull and Meola.

Benge then came back to the plate and recorded his second hit of the inning, this one scoring Forsythe and Beau Sylvester before the Bearkats mercifully got out of the frame with a strikeout.

The reprieve didn’t last long, however.

With two on and two outs in the fifth, Benge doubled down the left-field line to score a pair and start another big rally.

From there, Wulfert hit a two-run home run to left-center, the first round-tripper of OSU’s season.

First 💣 of 2024#GoPokes pic.twitter.com/1hP0HZ0mSK

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) February 18, 2024

Then Colin Brueggeman got on with a single to set up a two-run, inside-the-park home run from Schubart.

Gap Band, inside-the-park style#GoPokes | @NolanSchubart pic.twitter.com/pX48eArkqd

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) February 18, 2024

That led to a string of four straight OSU singles that scored a pair of Cowboy runs before Sylvester scored on a passed ball.

Then Ehrhard ended the rally with a two-run home run to left.

That’s what ya call a no-doubter#GoPokes | @Zach_Ehrhard pic.twitter.com/vw4RAQop6h

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) February 18, 2024

All 11 of those fifth-inning runs came with two outs.

Benge was 4-for-5 on the day with four RBIs, a pair of doubles and two runs scored.

Ehrhard was 3-for-4 with a trio of runs scored and two RBIs. Brueggemann and Forsythe each went 3-for-6, and Wulfert, Schubart, Meola and Sylvester each had a pair of hits.

It was a solid day on the bump for the Cowboys, starting with Janzen Keisel. In his second season with the Pokes after transferring from BYU, Keisel threw five innings, allowing no runs on three hits while walking three and striking out six.

Ryan Bogusz and Brennan Phillips got some middle relief work, as the tandem combined to throw three innings where they allowed no runs off two hits while walking one and striking out two.

Bryson Hudgens pitched the ninth, and though it wasn’t the cleanest, the 19-run cushion he had was more than enough, as he allowed two runs off five hits.

So, the Cowboys are 1-2 to start the year, but for what it’s worth, they outscored Sam Houston 22-11 in the series thanks to Sunday’s offensive explosion.

The Cowboys will stay in the Lone Star State and play a quartet of games in Arlington over the next week, starting with a game against Abilene Christian at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday. From there, OSU will take part in the Kubota College Baseball Series with games against Michigan (3 p.m. Friday), Arkansas (7 p.m. Saturday) and Oregon State (5 p.m. Sunday).