Omaha in February: Oklahoma State Bounces Back to Take Vanderbilt Series

Without any context, this weekend’s series could have passed as a College World Series winner-take-all type of series.

With Oklahoma State leading 5-3 in the rubber match, reliever Kale Davis walked in a run in the 8th to bring the Commodores within one. Trevor Martin trotted out for a 5-out save with his work cut out for him. Martin limited the damage to a sac-fly that tied the game at 5 heading into the 9th.

In the 9th, on-base machine Jake Thompson had his best at-bat of the series with Hueston Morrill on first. Thompson battled into a 3-2 count and blasted back-to-back foul home runs, with the last one barely slicing foul of the pole in left, before finally lining a double down the right-field line to bring home the go-ahead run.

Thompson reached base safely eight times in this series, and he was a menace in two-strike counts.

“Jake is a 2-strike hitting animal,” coach Josh Holliday said. “He’s the best 2-strike hitter I ever remember coaching. He’s that comfortable and that good at it.”

Two batters later, Griffin Doersching drove a Thomas Schultz cutter into the left-center gap to give a much-needed insurance run. Get used to hearing Doersching’s name a lot this year. The Western Kentucky transfer was a monster in this series, stroking 3 doubles, a home run, 3 RBI and 3 runs the past two games. Anyone sitting in the outfield seats of O’Brate this season needs to be on high alert when digs into the batters’ box.

Martin then retired the side in the bottom half, striking out the final two ‘dores to end the game.

Oklahoma State takes the series.

“That was a heck of a win right there,” Holliday said. “Boy did our guys deliver.”

It was quite a bounce-back for OSU after being shut out in the series opener. But that just goes to show how quickly and drastically things can change, especially early in the season.

“I’m super impressed with the way they responded after Friday night,” Holliday said. “It was 25 degrees and we struck out 18 times. We were searching a little bit for some warmth and contact.”

The past two games have provided a lot of bright spots for the Cowboys. Victor Mederos was nails in his 4 innings of work yesterday, showing off his dominant fastball and pulling the string on the breaking ball on a handful of occasions.

Mederos was somewhat of a question mark coming into this season after a spotty season in Miami last year, and the same was thought of Bryce Osmond. Osmond didn’t have his best stuff last year, but in his first outing today, he went 5 strong and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits while striking out 8 batters.

“It was the best outing of Bryce’s career,” Holliday said. “He looked like a real pitcher.”

The turnaround at the plate was night-and-day as well. The Pokes scored 11 total runs over the last two games, cut down on the strikeout numbers and delivered with runners on base.

To compliment the offense, the bullpen locked it down when it mattered. In Saturday’s game, Trevor Martin struck out three batters and recorded the save. Today, he set Vandy down 1-2-3 in the 9th to pick up the win.

“He didn’t give them any kind of hope,” Holliday said. “Even just one baserunner could have started a rally.”

It’s hard to ask for a better start for Holliday’s squad than taking the opening series on the road against a perennial powerhouse. The Cowboys will now travel to Globe Life Field on Tuesday night to take on Sam Houston State, who just won 3-of-4 against Nebraska.