Cowboys Have the "Wright" Stuff in Home Opening Doubleheader Sweep
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State opened the home portion of its 2022 schedule with a doubleheader sweep of Wright State Sunday at O'Brate Stadium, posting a 26-3 win in the opener before bouncing back for a dramatic 7-6 victory in 10 innings in the night cap. With the wins, the third-ranked Cowboys improved to 4-2 on the season, while WSU fell to 0-5.
OSU jumped on the visitors early in game one, striking for nine runs in their its at bat. The Cowboys sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning and took advantage of three walks and three batters hit by pitch.
Marcus Brown brought home the Cowboys' first run with a bloop single before RBIs from Nolan McLean and Caeden Trenkle on a walk and hit by pitch made the score 3-0.
The big blows in the inning came off the bat of freshmen, with Zach Ehrhard collecting a two-RBI single and Roc Riggio smashing the first home run of his career, a three-run shot to right field.
The Raiders would plate their first three runs in the game in the top of the fifth, but OSU would answer with two of their own in the bottom of the frame on a Riggio sac fly and a Jake Thompson RBI single.
The Cowboys continued to extend the lead in the sixth when Garett Martin scored on a passed ball before Griffin Doersching and Brown each drove in a run with singles.
The seventh would become another huge inning for OSU. The Pokes brought 16 batters to the plate and scored 12 runs in the inning, highlighted by a solo home run from McLean and a three-run shot by Brett Brown in his first plate appearance as a Cowboy.
The Cowboys finished the rout with 13 different players recording hits and 12 driving in runs. Justin Campbell got the win after striking out nine in six innings while allowing three runs, two earned. He improves to 1-1 on the young season.
OSU had four players finish with three or more RBIs in the game to go along with home runsfrom three different Pokes. Brown finished 5-for-7 with a double and three RBIs in the game.
In game two, the Cowboys would once again get out to an early lead when McLean singled down the right field line to drive in a run in the first, but Wright State would quickly answer and tie it in the top of the second on a home run. The Raiders added two more in the top of the fourth before Trenkle hit a solo home run into the visitor's bullpen in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit in half.
After WSU scored again in the seventh and added two more in eight, the Cowboys entered bottom of the ninth needing to rally out of a 6-2 hole. With two on and one out, Garrett Martin got a hold of one and sent it over the left-field foul pole to bring OSU within a run. The Cowboys would then get their next three batters aboard to load the bases for Thompson, who would ground out to shortstop, bringing in the tying run and sending the game into extra innings.
Jimmy Ramsey came on and pitched a scoreless 10th for OSU to give the Pokes a chance in the bottom half.
Up first, John Bay was hit by a pitch, and after a fly out, Chase Adkison singled. Freshman Cayden Brumbaugh then stepped into the box for his first-career plate appearance and grounded a ball to the right side. WSU's first baseman could not make the play as the ball bounced off his glove, with the infield single and error allowing Bay to score from second for a Cowboy walk-off victory.
Ramsey was credited with the win, putting him at 1-0 on the season. OSU starter Bryce Osmond went four innings, striking out eight while allowing three runs, all of them earned.
OSU returns to action Tuesday when the Cowboys open a two-game midweek series at Arizona State.