Hey Texas, Don't Mess with Cowboy Baseball, Pokes Sweep Horns!

(Wade McWhorter of Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations contributed to this story from onsite in Austin, Texas.)

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas had a massive showing on Military Appreciation Day as it would be hard to remember a college baseball game that had as many flyovers as what the Longhorns arranged for UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. Multiple military aircraft from helicopters to planes made the flyover. In the end the most important flyover of the day Oklahoma State designated hitter Griffin Doersching hit a grand slam as part of a 10-run seventh inning to bring the Cowboys back all the way in one of the greatest comeback wins in OSU baseball history.

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Cowboys get the sweep over Texas.

“Definitely one of the top five, top two, I can’t remember any better,” Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday said after the game on the postgame of the Cowboys Sports Network broadcast. “It would have been easy for our team to not have mustered up that effort because you think we’ve already won two games. You can’t think that way. You have to play every single inning, every pitch, one at a time. I give our kids credit for staying in the moment. That isn’t just a win. That is a lesson. We dug in and we were present in the moment.”

Oklahoma State was down 7-0 to Texas going to the top of the seventh. Then in top of that frame the Pokes had five walks, two hit-by-pitch to go with four hits as 14 batters came to the plate and the Cowboys led 10-7. Texas got one more run on a solo home run in the eighth and the bullpen held up the lead to sweep Texas 10-8 the final in game three.

Roman Phansalkar came on to pitch the bottom of the seventh and he forced Texas to hit into a double play with two on and two outs. His one-inning effort got him the decision and win to go to 4-2 on the season. Kale Davis gave up the home run in the eighth but got out of the inning and Nolan McLain came out and got Texas in order, to finish the ninth and the game for the Cowboys.

Oklahoma State moves their record to 31-13 overall and 13-5 in the Big 12 to take back first place from TCU (27-16/12-6). Texas falls to 31-16 and 9-9 in the Big 12. At the end of the game as the Cowboys all came to the middle of the field to high five and fist bump in celebration of the win, most of the Texas players stood on the top step of their dugout and stared blankly out at the winners.

Most of the weekend the famed Longhorn Network had to spend their airtime complimenting the Cowboys and their prowess as Texas had not lost a series in Austin this season.

The Cowboys now have the week off for final exams and will return to the diamond at O’Brate Stadium Friday May 6 for the first of a three-game non-conference series with Southeast Missouri State.

Obviously, the game was rugged for the Cowboys the first few innings. Texas started on fire with five runs in the first two innings including four in the second with back-to-back-to-back home runs. The Longhorns led 7-0 after five innings. The Cowboys Ryan Bogusz came in and pitched three innings and only allowed two runs but was hurt by an error. He steadied the ship to help set up the comeback in the seventh inning.

“Without Ryan Bugusz’ three innings we don’t get back in that game and without Roman Phansaklar’s guts to throw those pitches we’re not winning the game,” Holliday said. “Kale Davis came in and faced a tough spot in the order and just gave up one. Nolan comes in and he is just remarkable. I don’t think people realize how hard it is to play third base all weekend and then come in and pitch that way.”

The game started all Texas. Douglas Hodo III went 2-for-4 with two doubles, while Skyler Messigner was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Hodo put a run on the board for the Longhorns in the first inning with a double before later scoring on a balk.

When Oklahoma State came out for the bottom of the second pitcher Victor Mederos struggled with his footing on the mound and appeared to have an injury.

“Everything that could go wrong early did go wrong including a mound that wasn’t prepared properly,” Holliday said of the issues with the pitching mound that caused a delay in the game and sent OSU starter Mederos out with back or hip issues. “There is one speck of dirt on the field and they couldn’t get it right. If they need to learn how to work with dirt they can come to Oklahoma because we can do it. The mound was a mess, bad for their pitcher and bad for our pitcher and may have caused his injury.”

Texas added four more runs to the score in the second inning to go up 5-0. Silas Ardoin, Skyler Messinger and Dylan Campbell hit three-consecutive home runs for the first three runs of the inning. Hodo then doubled and was driven in on an RBI single by Ivan Melendez.

“Trevor Martin has to come in and he isn’t prepared, thinking he would hear his number called about an hour from then,” explained Holliday. “Instead he has to come in then and they hit the three home runs off of him.”

However, the Cowboys, as Holliday said, stayed connected and pushed through. In that comeback key seventh they loaded the bases twice and the hits were there with freshman second baseman Roc Riggio clearing the bases with a double. Then on the reload it was Doersching’s turn with the monster rand slam ghome run to left field to take the lead.

Oklahoma State only had seven hits in the win and Doersching was the only multiple hit Cowboy going two-for-five, but it was all worth it and made for a great ride back home to Stillwater.