OSU Baseball: Cowboys Survive and Advance, Beating Baylor 4-3

It wasn’t the prettiest of games, but the Cowboys have another W on their resume to boost their NCAA tournament chances.

Oklahoma State beat Baylor 4-3 in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship. The game featured more unearned runs than earned runs and an excellent relief outing from Mario Pesca.

It was tied at 3 in the bottom of the seventh with a runner on first and one out when Brock Thompson got to the dish. With a full count, Thompson — it looked like — fouled a ball off behind him. But the home plate umpire punched him out. The umpires got together and ruled it a foul ball, sending Thompson back to the plate. However, in the replay that the umpires weren’t privy to, it very much looked as if the home plate umpire initially got the call right, as the ball went over Thompson’s bat and tipped off the catcher’s glove. The Pokes caught a break.

After all that, Thompson drew a walk, and after a Brayden Smith strikeout, there were two on with two outs. Ian Daugherty came to the plate and grounded a ball right at Baylor shortstop Tyriq Kemp, but the ball went right between Kemp’s legs and into the outfield, allowing Drew Culbertson to score a go-ahead run from second.

That was one of four errors (two from each team) in the game, but the scoring started with a rare earned run.

Kollin Ritchie clobbered a ball to right-center in the bottom of the second. It was a solo shot and his 10th home run of the season.

Ritchie 🚀#GoPokes | @kollin_ritchie pic.twitter.com/HwRO3GGN3C

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 21, 2025

That 1-0 lead didn’t last long, as Baylor scored two in the top of the third. Sean Youngerman issued a walk to start the inning, but he got the next batter to hit a grounder to second for a potential double-play. Unfortunately for the Pokes, Smith, the second baseman, threw the ball past shortstop Avery Ortiz. The ball went into foul territory in left, and the base runner who started the play on first base scored. The batter ended up on third and crossed the plate on a groundout, making it 2-1.

WAVE HIM HOME! Bears tie it right away in the 3rd!

Top 3 | Baylor 1, Oklahoma State 1 #SicEm 🐻⚾️ | #Together pic.twitter.com/nzcj3rB0LH

— Baylor Baseball (@BaylorBaseball) May 21, 2025

Baylor increased its lead to 3-1 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly. That at-bat was Youngerman’s last of the day, bringing in Pesca for what turned out to be a Super Mario performance.

Pesca, a 6-foot-8, 273-pound right-hander, threw 3 2/3 innings where he allowed just two baserunners while striking out two. He moved to 7-2 on the year. That performance allowed the Cowboy offense to scrape together some runs and get back into the game.

A Colin Brueggemann sac fly scored Smith in the sixth inning, making it 3-2. That was the second out, and Jayson Jones grounded a ball to third for what looked like the final out of the inning. But Pearson Riebock’s throw was errant, and Daugherty hustled home from second to tie the game.

In all, it was an excellent pitching performance for the Pokes, as Youngerman, Pesca and Gabe Davis combined to give up just one earned run while walking two and striking out eight.

OSU was in D1Baseball’s latest projection of the NCAA Tournament field as a 3 seed in the Corvallis Region. The Cowboys had seemed out of tournament contention about a month ago, but after this win against the Baylor, they’ve won 10 of their past 11 games to get up to 28-22 on the year. Every win in Arlington strengthens those projections.

The Cowboys move on to face Kansas at 4 p.m. Thursday. Kansas finished second in the Big 12 this season and swept OSU back in March in Lawrence.