Oklahoma State Baseball Drops Midweek Contest At Missouri State

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Oklahoma State fell to Missouri State, 10-8, Tuesday night at Hammons Field.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Cowboys, who fell to 12-14; MSU is now 14-13.

Alex Conover homered and picked up two RBIs, while Kollin Ritchie was 2-for-4 and also drove in a pair of runs. Braylon Smith also extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single.

The Cowboys used six pitchers in the contest, with Jett Hope taking the loss in his collegiate debut as he allowed two runs on two hits in his lone inning of work.

Matthew Brown turned in a strong performance on the mound as he worked 3 2/3 shutout innings and struck out three.

The Cowboys jumped on top early. Conover was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, and two batters later, Nolan Schubart brought him home with a single. Up next, Ritchie ripped an RBI double off the wall in left field to make the score 2-0.

However, the Bears answered in the bottom of the first with a two-RBI double off the bat of Max Knight to tie the score.

OSU regained the advantage in the third, getting a sacrifice fly from Ritchie and an RBI groundout from Jayson Jones to make the score 4-2, but once again the home team responded in its next at bat with a pair of runs to knot the score at 4-4.

Over the fourth and fifth innings, the Bears rallied for six runs to take control of the scoreboard as a two-run fourth was followed by four runs in the fifth.

The Pokes would get two of those runs back in the sixth when Conover delivered his third home run in the last four games, sending a two-run shot to left field to make the score 10-6.

OSU mounted a final rally in the ninth, loading the bases with no outs before a two-RBI single by Beau Sylvester cut the deficit to 10-8.

OSU returns to Big 12 Conference action Friday when it opens a series with Kansas State at O'Brate Stadium.