Three Thoughts from Oklahoma State Baseball’s Home-Opening Win against UT-Arlington

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STILLWATER — After a tough start to the season in Arlington, the Cowboys came home and put a hurting on UT-Arlington on Sunday.

Oklahoma State beat the Mavericks 19-4 in the Cowboys’ home-opener, putting up all 19 of those runs in the first five innings. Here are three takeaways from the game.

1. Offensive Demons Exercised

When the Cowboys lost to Texas State on Tuesday, they scored two runs and left 13 runners on base. Well, through three innings against UTA, OSU flipped those numbers with 13 runs and two left on.

The Cowboy bats could do no wrong, scoring all 19 of those runs in the first five innings. OSU finished the day with 19 hits, seven doubles and a trio of home runs.

After going 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position against Texas State, the Pokes were 12-for-20 in the stat Sunday. The Cowboys loaded the bases twice in the second inning and got a hit each time they were loaded.

OSU coach Josh Holliday said he liked the Cowboys’ two-strike and two-out hits. Eleven of the Cowboys’ hits came with two strikes. Four of the five walks the Cowboys drew also came with two strikes, showing strong plate discipline. OSU was 5-for-12 with two outs, scoring six of their runs with those hits.

“We put the ball in play better,” Holliday said. “Still room to grow, but we put the ball in play better. We took some walks. We hit the ball to opposite field better. I actually think we hit the ball to opposite field exceptionally well. Top of my head, I can think of at least six or seven balls that went to the off gap for doubles.”

2. Player of the Game: Colin Brueggemann

When a team puts up 19 runs, there is no shortage in player of the game nominees, but Cowboy first baseman Colin Brueggemann is the clear choice.

A 6-foot-6 senior from Smithton, Illinois, Brueggemann went 4-for-5 at the plate with four RBIs and three runs scored.

He came to the plate with two on in the bottom of the first and hit a home run to left-center field.

Get outta here! https://t.co/dNqPZQXIKn pic.twitter.com/8T8O0xYG8v

— OSU Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) February 23, 2025

He singled in the second, loading the bases for Aidan Meola, who doubled to clear the bags. Brueggemann singled again in the third, making it three hits in three innings.

He got an inning off at the plate before returning in the fourth with a double to center that scored Arkansas transfer Jayson Jones.

Brueggemann is hitting .391 through 23 at-bats in his senior season. He’s one of three Cowboys with multiple home runs, joining Jones and Avery Ortiz, and Brueggemann leads the Pokes with 11 RBIs.

Honorable Mentions: 

Nolan Schubart — 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs
Aidan Meola — 2-for-5 with one run scored and four RBIs
Garrett Shull (freshman) — 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs

3. Holliday Says Cowboys ‘Learned a Ton’ on Arlington Trip

The Cowboys’ trip to Arlington didn’t go necessarily to plan.

The Shriners Children’s College Showdown was a tough field, and OSU competed in every game but dropped two of three. Then OSU hung around Arlington and played Texas State on Tuesday, losing 4-2 to the Bobcats. I chalk it up to a tough schedule and some classic early season midweek baseball.

Here’s what Holliday said about the start:

“When you get a chance to go away like we did, left last Wednesday, drove down, practiced indoors, which was huge because we couldn’t get on the field out here for two days previously because of the temperature, so we had almost a full week together on the road.

“We were taking on four different opponents over four games, which was a tremendous challenge. A lot of preparation goes into that. All the opponents were good opponents, and the setting was a great setting for us to go and grow. And we did that. We may not have liked the final result, but a lot of good things occurred. And these kids, they’re confident, and we like each other. We’ll keep plugging away at it. I would say we learned a ton about our team in a very short period of time, and with that, we knew exactly what to go to work on, where we needed to improve, and we’ve worked diligently at it since we got home. Yeah, so just a lot of inside time, since we got back, a lot of time to reflect on the games and get to work on some things we need to get better at.”