Oklahoma State Knocks off Top-Seed Texas to Advance to Big 12 Title Game
Oklahoma State is headed back to the Big 12 title game for the second time in two seasons as they knock of the top-seeded Texas Longhorns, 5-4, in the semifinals on Saturday.
They’ll face TCU game in the championship game on Sunday evening. The Horned Frogs took two games but finally eliminated Kansas State 17-7 late Saturday afternoon and evening. First pitch for the title game is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.
With the win, the Pokes advance to 3-0 in the tournament.
“When you wake up in sports with a chance to win something meaningful, you want to celebrate that opportunity because it’s not everyday you find yourself in that position,” said head coach Josh Holliday. “So, our message is all we’ve ever tried to do is win everything we do, tomorrow would be no different. I don’t think you put extra emphasis on it, but you certainly don’t shy away from the joy of getting to compete for a Big 12 championship. From there, you just take a deep breath and leave it out on the field and see what happens.”
The Cowboys threatened early in the top of the first inning as Caeden Trenkle started things off with a deep fly ball to left field for a triple. Max Hewitt followed that up with a deep fly ball to right center for a double, scoring Trenkle from third. Christian Encarnacion-Strand was jammed early in his at-bat for a short pop out to third, followed by a hit-by-pitch at-bat for Jake Thompson. Carson McCusker hit a fly ball about as deep as one could to dead center, but it was caught up against the wall for the second out of the inning. Cade Cabbiness ended the threat with a ground out the second for the third out of the inning.
Starting pitcher Mitchell Stone started things off defensively with a strikeout and a fly out before a single to right field by Texas three-hole hitter, Zach Zubia. However, he’d finish the bottom of the inning with another strikeout.
Nothing doing for the Cowboys in the top of the second as it was a one-two-three inning with two ground outs and a fly out. However, Stone did the same thing to the Longhorns in the bottom of the inning with a fly out, a foul out and a strikeout, his third of the game.
Encarnacion-Strand got on base with two outs in the top of the third for the Pokes as he was hit by a pitch. He was checked out by the medical staff on first as he was hit in the right hand/wrist, but he stayed in the game. That brought Thompson back up for the Pokes, but he flied out to left center to end the inning.
After two strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth, Texas’ Cam Williams singled to left field, stole second and was driven in by a double from Douglas Hodo to tie the game at one. Texas would take the lead on the next at-bat after Marcus Brown booted a ground ball at second to score Hodo from second. A fly out to center ended the Texas threat, but not before two runs scored to take a 2-1 lead going into the fifth.
Golda was put on first with a one-out walk, bringing Trenkle back around for his third at-bat of the game where he singled to center for his second hit of the game, advancing Golda to second. Texas’ Kubichek walked Hewitt to load the bases for Encarnacion-Strand, bringing about the first pitching change of the day, reliever Jared Southard.
A strikeout for Encarnacion-Strand, but the ball made it to the backstop and scored Golda from third to tie the game at two with just one out in the inning. Jake Thompson made some noise next up as he cleared the bases with a two-RBI single into left field to give the Pokes a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth.
With no outs and runners on first and third, Rob Walton made his first trip out the mound and made the decision to make the change to Kale Davis. Stone finished his day going 4.0 innings giving up seven hits, one earned with five strikeouts.
Davis started his outing with a ground ball to third, but a throwing error by Encarnacion-Strand scored Campbell from third, bringing the Horns back to within one, 4-3. It marked the third error on the day for the Pokes. An RBI sac-hit scored a runner from third to tie the game up at four for the Horns, before a deep fly ball caught by Cabbiness ended the threat.
Things were rather quite from the plate for both sides the next couple of half innings as the pitching started to heat up, giving us a few innings of scoreless baseball. Cabbiness helped keep the bottom of the eighth potentially scoreless as he laid out towards the foul line in right for an impressive catch for the second out of the inning. Davis recorded an infield fly out to end the inning.
Marcus Brown led things off in the top of the ninth for the Pokes against true freshman pitcher Aaron Nixon. With a bit of a checked swing, Brown puts the ball into right field for a leadoff single, hit first hit of the day, bringing Golda up to the plate, who puts down a brilliant bunt down the first baseline to advance pinch runner Dylan Gardner. Trenkle advanced to first on the first pitch after catcher interference, putting runners on first and second with just one out.
Max Hewitt flied out to left field for the second out, then Encarnacion-Strand drew a walk to load the bases with two outs for Jake Thompson. With a 3-2 count, Thompson drew a walk to score Gardner, the potentially game-winning run. First pitch ball for McCusker, but Nixon battled back and stuck him out to finish the side and leave three Cowboys stranded.
“The kid who came into pitch in the ninth has a great slider, a really tough at-bat for right-handed hitters,” said coach Holliday. “We knew Marcus [Brown] would compete, he’s a very competitive kid at home plate and that at-bat he put together to get that inning started was really, really gritty and tough and kind of what he’s been doing since he’s worked his way into the lineup. Just some kids stepping up late in the game, which is usually how those games kind of culminate with some gritty at-bats and the kids did it.”
Brett Standlee was brought in to close things out in the bottom of the ninth and recorded a ground out for the first out. After a lengthy battle with Campbell, he recorded a flyout to right for the second out, then a strikeout to close it out and record the save.
Davis picked up the win on the day as he went 4.0 innings giving up just one hit with three strikeouts. He moves to 2-3 on the season.
“I thought Mitch [Stone] pitched really good,” said Holliday. “We didn’t necessarily execute great behind him, but I like very much the way he competed. Texas is an excellent team. I thought Kale [Davis] was exceptional. Obviously, Brett [Standlee] came in and closed, so I thought the kids on the mound competed at a high level. A little bit of choppiness on the defensive side behind Mitch and initially Kale, but the tale of the game was the way we played defense and pitched the last three innings of the game because Golda’s play to start the ninth, Alix Garcia off the bench with the great scoop, Cabbiness’ catch in right, you could really go around and say the defense picked us back up on the back end of the game to make a difference.”