Cowboys Lose another One-Run Game to Gonzaga, Sunday Now at 6 p.m.
(Oklahoma State Athletic Media Relations contributed to this story.)
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State dropped its first series of the season Saturday as Gonzaga topped the No. 4 Cowboys, 2-1, in 10 innings at O'Brate Stadium where the gusty wind was blowing out . With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 6-4, while Gonzaga improved to 8-2.
The Bulldogs managed just three hits in the contest, but two of those were solo home runs that proved to be the difference.
“It’s disappointing to get an pitching performance as good as we did from Justin Campbell and not win,” head coach Josh Holliday said. “Roman (Phansalkar) pitched well in relief and we really should have done better, but you have to give them credit as they have some pitchers with great velocity and we didn’t handle the bat as well as we hoped.”
The OSU All-American Campbell was outstanding in his third start of the year, striking out 10 in 7 1/3 innings of work. The lone hit Campbell allowed was a home run by Stephen Lund with two outs in the first inning. Following that hit, he retired 19 consecutive batters until issuing his only walk in the game to open the eighth.
Former Oklahoma State All-American ace and current Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Andrew Heaney threw out the first pitch and was impressed by Campbell.
“He has good stuff, really powerful fastball and he mixes it up well,” Heaney said. “I really like what I see.”
Heaney was able to be there with the work stoppage in Major League Baseball, which he hopes will end soon.
The Cowboys struggled to push across a run against GU's William Kempner until the seventh inning. They had two big threats earlier that both ended with Gonzaga shortstop Connor Caballes making spectactular plays on balls hit up the middle.
Zach Ehrhard led off that frame with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. He would then steal third followed by a Roc Riggio walk to set up runners on the corners with one out for Jake Thompson, who would pop one up to shallow left field. The ball would drop in, scoring Ehrhard and tying the game.
OSU was primed for a walkoff in the ninth. Ehrhard led off the inning with a single, stole second and advanced to third with one out on a sacrifice bunt. An intentional walk and another steal put two Cowboys in scoring position, but a strike out and fly out sent the game into extras. The Cowboys played situation baseball perfectly except for the final piece in getting Ehrhard in from third.
“There are a lot of pitchers out there in college baseball that have velocity and we have to get to the point where we have success hitting those kind of pitchers,” Holliday added.
In the top of the 10th, GU's Cade McGee sent a Roman Phansalkar pitch into the OSU bullpen with two outs to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
Ehrhard finished the game 3-for-5 with a pair of stolen bases, while Thompson also had three hits.
Sunday's series finale has been rescheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch due to a forecast of rain.