STILLWATER – Fantasy was the weather with the wind blowing in and temperatures a little chilly for mid-April which would lead a baseball fan to believe game one of Bedlam with two aces on the mound would be a low scoring pitcher’s duel. Reality was there was plenty of offense and some decent miscues as well that made the first in-state battle in Big 12 play. The crazy up and down game wasn’t decided until the top of the ninth and it was déjà vu in a way from the non conference Bedlam game in Tulsa.
Cowboys reliever Roman Phansalkar dominated the eighth inning getting the Sooners in order and striking out one. Oklahoma State had a 7-6 lead. He gave way to Trevor Martin, who blew the save in the top of the ninth as back-to-back doubles down the leftfield line by Sooners shortstop Peyton Graham and first baseman Blake Robertson tied the game at 7-7. Then Sebastian Orduno singled in pinch runner Kendall Pettis for the winning run.
“The only thing you remember is the end and that’s why they call it the close,” Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday said afterwards on the Cowboy Radio Network postgame show. “They did a good job in the ninth inning down to two strikes putting the ball in play. The second hitter did a nice job of hitting that double and then Robertson hit the double and they get a clutch hit to centerfield to go ahead.”
Martin had blown the save opportunity in Tulsa in the non-conference 7-6 loss to Oklahoma. The Cowboys came up in the bottom of the ninth and they inexplicably took the bat out of the hands of Griffin Doersching who was two-for-four in the game with two RBI on two doubles. They tried to steal second with Zach Ehrhard, who had singled and he was thrown out for the final out of the game. It was reviewed by the umpiring crew and the call was upheld, game over.
“We make an aggressive play late to kind of push to tie and we would probably like to have that one back to give Griff a few more rips to see if he couldn’t square one up,” Holliday added. “That one stings and it will keep you up at night.”
Oklahoma won it 8-7 and moves to 18-10 on the season and 4-3 in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State falls to 21-9 and 5-2 in Big 12 action. The two teams meet again at O’Brate Stadium for an 8 p.m. nationally televised game on Saturday night. Reliever Carter Campbell (1-0) got the win and Martin (1-2) got the loss and may be losing the grip on the closer role.
It was a wild game as Oklahoma had the eight runs on 12 hits and one error by the Sooners. Oklahoma State had 10 hits leading to their seven runs and the usually clean Cowboys had an error that led to OU scoring runs.
Oklahoma struck first in the top of the second when Tanner Tredaway singled up the middle to centerfield. The next batter is the one that hurt as catcher Jimmy Crooks worked an 0-2 count into a walk to put runners on at first and second with no outs. It appeared that Cowboys starter Justin Campbell did not have his best stuff. Sebastian Orduno successfully sacrificed the runners over with a bunt right in front of home plate as Campbell had no choice but to go to first. Diego Muniz got the run home in the form of Tredaway with a bouncer to short for the second out. Cade Horton struck out for the third out, but the Sooners had a 1-0 lead.
The Cowboys answered in the bottom half of the inning as the just returned Griffin Doersching blooped the ball over first base rolling into four territory allowing Doersching, coming off a broken foot, to hoof it to second for a double. After David Mendham struck out swinging, Nolan McLean lined a single into leftfield moving Doersching to third. Chase Adkison hit a fly ball to medium centerfield and that was good enough to sacrifice and Doersching tagged from third to make it 1-1. Aidan Meola getting his first Big 12 start ended the inning striking out.
Answer again as the Sooners got a two-out run on the board with Peyton Graham beating the throw to first on a bouncer to third base. Aidan Meola could not get it to first in time. The next hitter Blake Robertson hit a fly to shallow centerfield that the Cowboys Zach Ehrhard dove for and couldn’t come up with as the ball slowly rolled past him allowing Graham to score from first and make it 2-1.
The fun really began for the Cowboys in the bottom of the third as the Gap Band cranked up with the “Bomb song” after Roc Riggio got to first on an infield single as he lined a ball off pitcher Jake Bennett and the ball rolled to second base but too slow for a play. Zach Ehrhard hit a ground ball to short for a fielders’ choice and with two outs Jake Thompson climbed out of a mini slump putting the ball exactly where you want to with the weather conditions the way they are, right center and he put the ball about four rows deep for a two-run homer and a 3-2 Cowboys advantage.
“We were responsive on offense and made up for some of the pitching a defense,” Holliday said.
That quickly the fun flipped over to the OU side as with one out in the top of the fifth and Cade Horton on first after a single, Jackson Nicklaus dribbled the ball to third and the Cowboys Meola rushed a throw that Nicklaus would have beaten out and the ball was wide and went down the rightfield line allowing Horton to score and tie the game 3-3. A rare error for the second best defensive team in Division One college baseball was costly. One batter later Oklahoma took the lead when Robertson singled against the Cowboys shift with the second base slot empty and the ball rolled into right-center scoring Nicklaus for a 4-3 lead.
It got scary and could have been worse as Oklahoma had runners at second and third but Campbell after going from 0-2 to 3-2 to Crooks did get the called third strike to end the threat in the fifth.
What looked like might be the deciding rally for the Cowboys came in the fifth inning with Oklahoma leading 4-3.
Here we go again as the Cowboys had back-to-back singles by Meola and Marcus Brown to put runners at first and third and then Brown stole second on the strike out pitch by Bennett. Zach Ehrhard delivered with the one out single up the middle and then rolled by OU centerfield Tanner Tredaway and both Cowboys scored with Ehrhard sliding past the tag safely into second base. Oklahoma State back up 5-4. Ehrhard kept it up taking and making good on aggressive base running as he stole third on ball four to Jake Thompson. Doersching made everybody even happier as he lined the ball over the head of the OU leftfielder to the wall for his second double of the game and this one produced two RBI for a 7-4 Oklahoma State lead.
That inning ran Bennett out of the game. The OU ace came in with a 2-1 record and an impressive 2.09 era but he left allowing the seven runs on eight hits and all seven runs were earned. Bennett walked just one Cowboy and struck out nine.
Cowboys starter Justin Campbell may not have had his best stuff, but he survived long enough to get that 7-4 lead from his teammates. Campbell pitched six complete innings and allowed the four runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out seven.
Kale Davis came on in the seventh and muddied things up with two wild pitches, one on a strike out to Wallace Clark and then the next one sent Clark to second. When Nicklaus singled up the middle Clark scored to make it 7-5. Davis got a fly ball out but then hit Robertson and that was it for Davis.
It got uglier and in the weirdest of circumstances as Roman Phansalkar came on and struck out one Sooner but then Crooks lined the ball to centerfield and with Caeden Trenkle in he came in and looked like he made the catch with his glove facing down in the midsection of his body but as he fell to the ground the ball slipped out. After it was called an out by the third base umpire it was reviewed and Crokks got a single and the Sooners got another run to make it 7-6 with runners still on the corners. Roc Riggio made a force play with a nice snag on a ground ball to end the inning. Cowboys still in front.
Cowboys starter Justin Campbell may not have had his best stuff, but he survived long enough to get that 7-4 lead from his teammates. Campbell pitched six complete innings and allowed the four runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out seven.
