STILLWATER – Oklahoma State evened its series against Gardner-Webb with a 4-2 victory Saturday afternoon at O'Brate Stadium.
With the win, the Pokes improved to 10-4, while GWU fell to 10-5. The two teams will square off in the series rubber game Sunday at 1 p.m.
Ethan Lund was dominant in his fourth start of the season as he worked six innings and struck out 12. The southpaw allowed just two runs on five hits and a pair of walks as he improved to 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA and 40 strikeouts.
Noah Wech came on in the ninth and kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard to record his fourth save of the season. Stormy Rhodes spelled Lund on the mound and worked a pair of shutout frames.
The Cowboys took an early lead in the first inning after a pair of singles from Brock Thompson and Kollin Ritchie led to a Campbell Smithwick RBI single to make the score 1-0.
That lead reached 2-0 in the second when TP Wentworth delivered the first home run of his career, a line drive shot down the right-field line.
Lund continued dealing, striking out the side for the second time in the third inning, and Brady Francisco cut down the runner trying to steal on Lund's eighth strikeout of the day to end the fourth inning.
Wentworth led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single and immediately advanced to second on a balk. After a wild pitch and an Alex Conover walk, Conover stole second and a throwing error allowed Wentworth to score from third.
The Bulldogs strung together four singles, with two more Lund strikeouts in between, in the top of the fifth inning to close the gap to 3-2.
Lund finished his day off with two more strikeouts to end the sixth before Rhodes took over in the top of the seventh.
The Cowboys added an insurance run in the seventh. Following a Conover single and stolen base, he advanced to third on a Thompson ground out to bring up Ritchie. After Ritchie walked, Conover came across the plate on an Aidan Meola single to left to make the score 4-2.
Wech surrendered a leadoff double in the ninth but settled in and retired the next three hitters to secure the win.
