Cowboys Press It in the 9th, but Lose Series to TCU
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State had its Big 12 series winning streak snapped Sunday as the No. 2 Cowboys dropped a 7-6 game to 10th-ranked TCU at O’Brate Stadium. With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 27-13 and into second place in the conference standings at 10-5. TCU is now atop the league at 12-6 and owns a 27-13 overall mark.
OSU rallied for two runs in the ninth Sunday and had runners of first and second with two outs, but the comeback fell short when Nolan McLean struck out.
“We had a chance. Our kids got up there with a chance and they competed, but we couldn’t get it done,” head coach Josh Holliday said afterwards on the radio postgame show. “There were little blips that cost us in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. That insurance run they got in the top of the ninth proved huge. This one is going to be tough to deal with because we had a chance..
McLean was one of three Cowboys with two hits in the contest, while Ian Daugherty collected a pair of RBIs.
Hueston Morrill took the loss on the mound to fall to 1-1 as he allowed one run on three hits in the seventh inning.
The Cowboys got the scoring started in the second inning off the bat of a freshman. Marcus Brown and McLean put together back-to-back singles with one out, and two batters later, Daugherty poked a pitch into left-center field to drive in a run. It was Daugherty’s first RBI of his career and put OSU up 1-0.
TCU’s first batter of the top of the third provided an answer. In a 1-2 count, Sam Thompson hit a solo homer to right field to tie the game. After the next batter singled, Tommy Sacco hit an almost identical home run, putting the Horned Frogs ahead 3-1.
OSU put up a three spot in the fourth to retake the lead. Griffin Doersching singled to open the inning, and Marcus Brown followed with a double. McLean then hit a blooper that fell in behind the shortstop to bring home a run. An infield single loaded the bases with no outs, and Daugherty drew a walk to tie the game. Caeden Trenkle then grounded into a double play, but the go-ahead run scored from third to make it 4-3.
TCU evened things in the sixth. With one out, a hit batter put the tying run on base. The next Horned Frog doubled down the right-field line, allowing the runner to score from first and tie the game at 4-4.
The Horned Frogs retook the lead with a two-out rally in the seventh as three-straight singles led to the go-ahead run crossing the plate, putting TCU up 5-4.
For the third inning in a row, TCU scored in the eighth. After a groundout to begin the inning, Reed Spenrath hit a 2-1 pitch into the seats in right field to double the Horned Frog lead.
TCU put a final run on the board in the top of the ninth. A one out single followed by a fielder’s choice and throwing error put a runner on second with two outs. The next batter would single up the middle to bring in the insurance run and extend the Horned Frog lead to 7-4.
Down to its final three outs, OSU rallied in the ninth as pinch hitter John Bay was hit by a pitch, and Zach Ehrhard followed with a double. Up next, Jake Thompson collected an RBI with a groundout to make the score 7-5.
With a runner on third and two outs, Doersching grounded to the TCU shortstop, but the errant throw allowed him to reach safely and bring home a run to pull the Cowboys to within one.
Next up, Marcus Brown walked to put two runners on before Garrett Wright got a strikeout to earn his second save of the series.
Two Cowboys runners stranded, down one to end the contest. A tough way to lose it.
The Cowboys return to action Tuesday when they travel to Wichita, Kan., to take on Wichita State at Riverfront Stadium, home of the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge, in a game scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. start.