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OSU Baseball: Four Home Runs Launch Cowboys to Series-Opening Win Against Cincinnati

Brueggemann hit two home runs, and Ritchie hit his 18th (!!!!) of the sesaon.

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[Devin Wilber/PFB]

STILLWATER — The Cowboys’ offense has been boom or bust for a lot of this season, but the Pokes boomed at just the right time Friday afternoon.

Oklahoma State beat Cincinnati 12-9 in the teams’ Big 12 series opener in O’Brate Stadium. The Cowboys (19-11, 4-6 Big 12) erased a seven-run deficit over the span of two innings thanks to the long ball.

Evan Saunders got the rally started in the bottom of the fifth, homering to left. It was a two-run shot that also scored Garrett Shull, who tripled in the at-bat before.

Alex Conover was then hit by a pitch before Brock Thompson battled to a walk. That brought up Kollin Ritchie, one of the nation’s home run leaders. He clobbered a ball to center, his 18th round-tripper of the season, to cut Cincinnati’s lead to 9-7.

OSU had the bases loaded two innings later when Colin Brueggemann flipped the game on its head with a grand slam to right-center field. It was Brueggemann’s second home run of the day, as he hit a two-run shot in the second to give the Pokes an early lead.

“That’s why you recruit strong kids — that’s for sure,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “Don’t make any mistake about it. … You recruit power for that, one swing of the bat can produce four runs, but you also want to have other ways to strike.”

Half of the Cowboys’ hits Friday were home runs. Although the Pokes haven’t been the most consistent when it comes to wins and losses, they have consistently hit the ball over the fence this season. OSU is up to 57 home runs, which would’ve tied for sixth nationally coming into the weekend.

If the nine runs allowed didn’t make it evident enough, it wasn’t the cleanest of days from the Cowboy pitching staff.

Sophomore Ethan Lund got the start but ended up throwing 97 pitches in just 4 1/3 innings. He struck out eight but walked six and gave up five runs on two hits.

Junior Kai Fyke was the first arm out of the bullpen, but he had an outing he’d probably rather forget. Fyke threw six straight balls before the first pitch he put over the plate got put in the stands, a three-run home run. He ended up recording one out while allowing four runs off three hits and walking two.

Drew Blake came in and got the Cowboys’ out of the fifth inning, but he issued a walk and saw that runner move to second on a passed ball to start the sixth before sophomore right-hander Jake Kennedy came in and finally calmed things down.

It was just Kennedy’s fourth appearance of the season, but he provided two full innings in which the Bearcats didn’t score or muster a hit while Kennedy struck out three. In fact, entering Friday, Kennedy had thrown 8 1/3 innings in his three-year career.

“So happy for him,” Holliday said. “So happy for him. Freshman year, like a lot of young arms, you’re learning. You’re kinda finding your way, and he was. He got the ball a little bit as a freshman. Last year, had some injuries that just never quite gave him the foundation he needed to really figure it out. He battled some tough injuries last year.

“In terms of mound time and experience, it’s been limited. But we like his arm, and we like him. We believe in him. Today was hopefully, could be that moment for him that let’s him see, ‘Man, I can really do this.'”

That was enough to get the ball to closer Noah Wech, and though the sophomore did allow two of the first three batters he faced to get on, he didn’t let any cross the plate and struck out five of the eight batters he came up against.

In total, the Cowboy arms gave up the nine runs (six earned) on six hits while walking 11 and striking out 17.

Ritchie Flirting with History

Former Atoka Wampus Cat Kollin Ritchie clobbered his 18th home run of the season in the fifth inning of Friday’s game. The three-run shot also pushed his RBI total up to 48 this season.

Ritchie was in a three-way tie for second in home runs entering the weekend, so he at least momentarily jumps out into solo second place. He ranked 10th nationally in RBIs, but his three Friday move him into a tie for third.

Nolan Schubert’s 2024 season is the best in terms of home runs from a Cowboy since 2000 when Schubert hit 23. Ritchie has averaged 0.6 home runs through OSU’s first 30 games. If he can do that through the final 25 of the regular season, he’d get up to 33, which would stand alone in second all-time in program history behind Pete Incaviglia’s 48 back in 1985.

“Recruiting a Kollin Ritchie is hard to do,” Holliday said. “That one came from Atoka, Oklahoma. If you go try to get that guy out of California, you’re gonna fight UCLA and USC for him. If you go try to get that guy out of Texas, you’re gonna fight Texas and Texas A&M for him. If you go try to get him out of the south, you’re gonna fight the entire SEC for him.

“What I’m trying to say is when you try to get physically gifted players that can do something like boom one pitch, boom 440-foot home run, you either one have to go get them, which they’re hard to get, or two, you have to build them, which means you have to be patient. And nobody in the world even knows what patience is anymore. So my point is, yeah, you get those guys when you can, right? Ritchie, he’s a find. That’s a 6-foot-1, 225-pound country strong, tough, powerful dude who is becoming a hell of a baseball player.”

Josh Holliday Postgame

OSU vs. Cincinnati

Saturday: 6 p.m. on ESPN+
Sunday: 1 p.m. on ESPN+

 

 

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