OSU Baseball: Cowboys Sweep BYU with Two Friday Wins

STILLWATER — The Cougars are probably used to balls flying a little farther with Provo’s altitude, but they might’ve learned this week that thin air has nothing on the Oklahoma wind.

Oklahoma State completed its series sweep against BYU on Friday in O’Brate Stadium, winning both games of a Friday doubleheader. The Cowboys won the first 11-5 and the second 12-5. OSU hit 13 home runs and scored 40 total runs in the three games.

In particular, Carson Benge dominated the Cougars, finishing the series having gone 6-for-11 at the plate with eight runs scored, six RBIs and four home runs. Zooming out a little further, Benge this week went 8-for-17 with 10 runs scored, 10 RBIs and five home runs — adding his midweek performance against Oral Roberts.

And on top of all that, he pitched in Thursday’s game, earning a win with his five innings of mound work, giving up a run off three hits while walking four and striking out six.

“Pretty remarkable,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “He’s a rhythm player, he’s a feel player, he’s a ballplayer — he’s a baseball player. There’s just so much about him that’s one of a kind. He’s a very unique player.

“There were great swings to all fields. Moved the ball out of the park to left, he moved some balls out to right-center, he moved some balls out to right. Obviously, the pitching effort. He took his walks. He had a great week. He put it all on display.”

It would take a small novel to recap all of the runs the Cowboys scored this weekend, but they put a pair on the board in the bottom of the first of the series finale. Nolan Schubart opened the game up with an RBI double to right that scored Benge, who reached on a walk. Freshman Kollin Ritchie then brought Schubart home with a single to left.

BYU momentarily had a 3-2 lead after scoring a trio of runs in the top of the second, but the Pokes quickly responded, as Zach Ehrhard hit a three-run shot in the bottom of the frame just before Benge blasted a solo shot to right-center. Benge’s blast went 464 feet and had an exit velocity of 104 mph.

After giving up the early runs, Brian Holiday then settled in and threw five straight scoreless innings and went on a streak of 11 straight batters retired. He finally made a mistake in the eighth that BYU was able to capitalize on with a two-run home run that ended his day. Holiday finished having thrown 7 1/3 innings, where he gave up the five runs off four hits while walking three and striking out 10.

The rest of Holiday’s run support came in the fifth and sixth.

Colin Brueggemann plated a pair with an RBI single in the fifth. Then BYU was in a pretzel in the sixth. The Cowboys drew back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the inning before Ehrhard doubled, scoring the pair. Benge then brought Ehrhard in with a single. From there, Schubart walked and Ritchie was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brueggemann then walked, scoring a run before BYU finally found a way out of the inning.

Ehrhard finished the game with two hits, four RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

Conference series are usually just getting started on Fridays, but this one is already over. BYU doesn’t play on Sundays, so the series started Thursday, and then the threat of looming weather moved things around for the Friday doubleheader.

The Cowboys are up to 30 wins this season and are now on a five-game winning streak. OSU is 14-7 in Big 12 play, and with three conference series to go, it has another shot at some Big 12 hardware.

Josh Holliday’s Postgame News Conference