WACO, Texas – Oklahoma State clinched a series win on the final weekend of the regular season as the No. 8 Cowboys were 9-5 victors over Baylor in a rain-shortened, eight-inning game Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.
OSU enters the postseason with a 36-18 overall record, and the Cowboys tied for second place in the Big 12 Conference standings with a 15-9 mark. OSU will be the No. 4 seed at next week's Big 12 Baseball Championship and will open tourney play Wednesday against fifth-seeded Texas at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, in a game scheduled for a 9 a.m. first pitch.
The Cowboys pounded out 15 hits in the finale, with Jake Thompson and Nolan McLean collecting three apiece. McLean also drove in two runs and was one of five Pokes with RBIs on the day.
In the series, OSU scored 31 runs and finished with 48 hits over the three games.
Mitchell Stone picked up the win in relief Saturday to improve to 2-0 as he took over for starter Trevor Martin to open the second inning. The southpaw worked 6 1/3 innings and allowed two runs, only one of them earned, on three hits while striking out five.
McLean recorded the final out of the contest with the tying run on deck in the eighth to pick up his fifth save.
BU jumped out to an early lead in the first, getting back-to-back walks and then three-straight RBI singles to take a 3-0 lead.
The Cowboys trimmed their deficit in the third, loading the bases with two outs on two singles and a walk before a free pass to David Mendham made the score 3-1.
In the fifth, OSU added its second run when Zach Ehrhard led off the inning with a home run to left field. The blast was the freshman's second of the series and third of the season and cut the Cowboys' deficit to 3-2.
The pivotal seventh saw the Pokes take their first lead of the day as they rallied for three runs. With one out and the bases loaded, McLean lined a pitch down the left-field line to bring home two and put OSU up 4-3. Marcus Brown followed by picking up an RBI on a fielder's choice to extend the lead to two.
OSU blew the game open in the eighth, rallying for four runs on four hits. Thompson brought home the first run with a single before the Cowboys plated subsequent runs on a wild pitch, balk and fielding error to go up 9-3.
The Bears plated a pair of runs in the eighth to cut the OSU lead to 9-5, and the game would continue into the bottom of the ninth with one out when storms entered the area. With heavy rain, hail and lightning that was not expected to subside in a timely fashion, the game was called and officially ruled an eight-inning contest.
