Late-game Heroics Propel Cowboys to Sweep in Home-opening Doubleheader

Oklahoma State had to wait until Sunday to open up O’Brate Stadium’s second season, and they did it with 7+ hours of baseball.

19 total innings, two VERY different games.

After a 26-3 shellacking of Wright State in game one, the Cowboys were on the ropes in game two. All momentum was trending towards the Raiders, who held a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the 9th. With 1 out and two runners aboard, pinch hitter Garrett Martin blasted a 3-run shot to bring OSU within 1. Jake Thompson then tied the game with an RBI groundout to send it to extras.

Before you knew it, OSU freshman Cayden Brumbaugh was at the plate in the bottom of the 10th with the winning run on second. Brumbaugh delivered. A ground ball bounced awkwardly off of the Raiders first baseman and rolled into shallow right, allowing John Bay to score the game-winner.

“Nobody gave up,” Roc Riggio said. “We have a lot of respect for each other and we trust each other.”

Oh by the way, Brumbaugh woke up this morning unable to see out of his left eye after a batting cage accident yesterday resulted in some stitches. Still came through. Got mobbed by his teammates after he did.

“I was trying to protect my eye,” Brumbaugh said. “I didn’t wanna get hit in the face again.”

The Pokes started hot in game one behind a solid home crowd, with the youngster Riggio firing up the Gap Band for the first time by blasting a hanging curveball into the visitor’s bullpen to cap off a 9-run first inning.

“It’s a moment I’ll remember for a long time,” Riggio said. “…It was surreal”

The game was basically over at that point.

Raiders starting pitcher Aaron Ernst went just 2/3 of an inning before being pulled. The other 5 Wright State pitchers each gave up at least two runs and combined for 9 walks.

MLB scouts from the Giants and White Sox looked on as Justin Campbell fanned down 9 Raider batters in 6 innings, allowing two runs on four hits.

Those same scouts also got to see shortstop Marcus Brown go for 5-7(!), with a double and 3 RBI to lead the Cowboy offense. He focused on playing loose and staying grounded in his back foot. It looks like those adjustments worked out pretty well.

“I thought I saw the ball a lot better today by slowing my feet down,” Brown said. “I was able to work into some hitters counts and not miss their pitches. It was fun, 5 hits.”

Brown was a stud in the Appalachian League this past summer, winning league MVP. He has transferred that over into a hot start for the Pokes batting .379 through 6 games.

“[He’s a] super important player to the team, he’s versatile,” coach Josh Holliday said. “He had a good day today. Those things give players confidence.”

Nolan McLean hit his first bomb of the season, and JUCO transfer Brett Brown lifted one out in his first at-bat of the season.

“Everyone was swinging the bat well,” Jake Thompson said. “In that 7th inning, it was fun to watch everyone swing, and before that starting off with 9 runs in the 1st was really a good start to the day.

But it wasn’t all good in game one. First baseman Griffin Doersching came up gimpy on his left ankle/foot after a play at third base. Doersching would leave that game and not return for game two. Holliday has no updates on his status at this time.

The abundance of fans present for game one slowly filed out during the intermission and the early innings of game two. A once respectfully-sized crown diminished into just a mere hundreds of fans left.

The Raiders came into the second game with a raging passion that wasn’t present in the first game, and their performance showed it. Wright State starter Jake Shirk went 4.2 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. Then it was reliever Sebastian Gongora who was nothing but nails in his first 3 innings, giving up only 1 hit. But he was the culprit of the 3-run homer in the 9th before being pulled.

Cowboy game-two starter Bryce Osmond wasn’t quite on point beyond the first inning. Osmond walked 6 batters, including 3 in a row in the 4th, which resulted in two runs for Wright State.

“Bryce lost command in the 4th inning, that’s all there is to it,” Holliday said. “That’s uncharacteristic with how well he’s been throwing. He’s been throwing the ball really well this preseason and last Sunday he pitched beautifully.”

The Cowboys are back on the road heading to Arizona State for a 2-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. Victor Mederos is the projected starter for the first game.