OSU Baseball: Cowboys Split Midweek Series With Winthrop after Cowboys Fall 9-3 on Wednesday

BOX SCORE

STILLWATER — The Eagles flew to Oklahoma and gave the Cowboys everything they could handle.

Oklahoma State lost to Winthrop 9-3 on Wednesday after the Cowboys scrapped out a 3-2 win against the Eagles on Tuesday night. OSU went just 4-for-30 (.133) at the dish Wednesday while Winthrop had 11 hits. It was the Eagles’ first win against a ranked opponent since 2011. OSU is now 7-5 this season.

“That wasn’t good enough,” said OSU coach Josh Holliday on what his message to the team was. “Straight up, that wasn’t good enough — period, in no way, shape or form.”

Winthrop got going early, picking up a pair of runs in the first inning off OSU freshman Noah Wech. An Alan Benhardt two-run home run to right in the fifth inning extended Winthrop’s lead to 6-0 before the Pokes bit back.

Ian Daugherty hit a sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of the fifth that scored Colin Brueggemann. Sophomore Kollin Ritchie took his first at-bats of the season Wednesday, and he got ahold of one with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. The home run to right field scored two and cut Winthrop’s lead to 6-3.

But the Cowboys couldn’t harness any momentum out of that. That Ritchie home run was the last hit of the night for the Cowboys. They had just one base runner in the final four innings.

Winthrop added its final three runs in the ninth.

“How do I think they’ll respond? They’ll respond correctly,” Holliday said. “They’ll respond correctly. They don’t feel good about this right now. It always falls on me. Obviously didn’t have us ready to play today, be the first one to accept that. I’ll wear that. I always do, I always have, but that doesn’t change the fact that we collectively share the responsibility to do something about it for sure.”

Looking for bright spots? Here’s three:

1. Holliday was super complimentary of Matthew Brown’s relief performance. A 6-foot-5 freshman from Canada, Brown came on in the sixth inning. He threw three innings, allowing no runs off two hits while walking none and striking out three. He was the only pitcher OSU used Wednesday who didn’t give up a run.

2. Junior college transfer Alex Conover was covering some ground out in centerfield. The Tuttle High alum made a diving catch in the seventh inning. It looked like he went face first into the O’Brate outfield to secure the catch. The next inning, he ran down a pop fly in left-center to secure another out.

Learn the name folks: Alex Conover.@AlexConover36 pic.twitter.com/HJpbBcV64c

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) March 6, 2025

“He’s a really good player in waiting,” Holliday said. “His time might be happening sooner than later. Energetic player, hard-nosed player, hard worker, great teammate.”

3. Colin Brueggemann went 1-for-4 on Wednesday, moving his hit streak to 11 games. He’s played in just one game this season in which he didn’t have a hit. His batting average sits at .388.

Up Next

Opponent: Illinois State
Location: O’Brate Stadium
Game 1: 6 p.m. Friday
Game 2: 6 p.m. Saturday
Game 3: 1 p.m. Sunday