OSU Baseball Loses First Game of Season

The Oklahoma State Cowboys came up short against the UT-Arlington Mavs on Friday afternoon, losing 3-2 on opening day. The Cowboys struggles with runners in scoring position were a big reason why coach Holliday’s team got handed a loss.

Junior RHP Trey Cobb made his second career start and kept the Cowboys in the game. Cobb gave up a run with two outs in the first inning on a Quintin Rohrbaugh single.

The other two runs Cobb allowed came in third when Colton Turner and Darien McLemore notched back-to-back RBI singles to put the Mavs up 3-0.

The Cowboys were given a chance to retaliate in the top of the fourth, but Ryan Sluder grounded out with the bases loaded to end the inning. At this point UTA had captured all of the momentum.

OSU earned its first run of the year when Conor Costello reached on a throwing error and then scored on a balk in the top of the fifth.

The bottom of the fifth would be Cobb’s final inning but it was also his best. The right-harder retired the side in order with a strikeout, groundout and then another strike out. Cobb worked at a very quick tempo in this inning while he showed a much slower pace at times when he struggled.

Cobb’s line: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R (1 ER), 5 K, 2 BB

Cobb showed that he still needs time to fully complete the transition from the bullpen to the rotation, but I was impressed that he battled his way through five innings. His stamina will continue to increase as the season goes along as well.

It must have been quite a bode of confidence for Cobb to get the nod on opening day and other than getting the loss I think this outing was positive for him.

The Cowboys rallied for a run in the seventh when Collin Theroux scored on a Corey Hassel sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Junior RHP Tyler Buffett came on in relief of Cobb in the sixth and pitched three innings of one-hit ball. Buffett is one of a handful of pitchers competing for a rotation spot and solid outings like this don’t go ignored.

Freshman Colin Simpson made things interesting with a two-out triple in the ninth in his first career at-bat, but it was followed by a Garrett McCain groundout to end the game.

Early season losses like this aren’t a big deal unless they come in bunches. The team has two games to rebound  tomorrow against Stephen F. Austin (11am) and UTA again following that.