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OSU Baseball: Cowboys Send Sooners Packing, Head to Big 12 Semifinals after 8-3 Win

Mendham started things and finished them for the Pokes.

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

The Cowboys got some payback for some payback.

The Bedlam series is soon to be done, but the two Oklahoma schools have played five times in the last eight days. Fortunately for the Cowboys, it looks like they’ve got the last laugh.

Oklahoma State defeated Oklahoma 8-3 to move to the Big 12 Championship semifinals on Friday night.

Oklahoma had handed Oklahoma State a 9-5 loss in the first round of the conference tournament and that was payback for the bubble team whose NCAA hopes are currently in the balance after OSU took Norman’s final scheduled Bedlam series 2-1 last weekend. But now the Sooners are headed home, and the Cowboys are still alive.

David Mendham broke the seal in the second with a three-run homer that just slipped over Globe Field’s left-field wall. On the very next pitch, Marcus Brown was hit by a pitch and trotted to first base. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and was sent home by a nasty line drive to center by Roc Riggio. Carson Benge flied out to left-center to send Zach Ehrhard across the plate to give OSU a commanding 5-0 after two.

After some stingy defense by both teams over the next few innings, the Sooners looked ready to take the momentum back in the fifth, but the Cowboys were able to corral them.

After a pair of Sooner singles, Tyler Wulfert bobbled a catch at third for a fielder’s choice. The Sooners scored with one of those runners, but the first of three double plays limited the damage to just one run, stranding two. The Cowboys added to their lead with another run in the sixth on a Riggio sac fly to make it 6-1.

The Sooners made things interesting with a pair of runs in the seventh. OU loaded the bases with no outs after a walk and back-to-back hit batters. The Sooners scored on a single and then a groundout to make it 6-3.

But the Cowboy that got things started gave the Pokes some breathing room. Mendham’s two-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh gave him five runs batted in and gave OSU an 8-3 lead.

Ben Abrams earned a second win against his former team after a nice start, moving to 8-2, pitching six innings, allowing one run, six hits and striking out three. Drew Blake saw a brief trip to the mound after allowing two runs with no outs. Bayden Root and Gabe Davis each struck out two with Davis closing the win, keeping the Sooners scoreless over the final two innings.

With the win, the Cowboys move on to the Big 12 Championship Semifinals to face 6-seed Texas Tech Saturday at 12:30 p.m. If they win they’ll play at either 4 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. for a chance at Sunday’s championship game.

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