Cowboy Baseball Drops Big 12 Tourney Opener

ARLINGTON, Texas – Fourth-seeded Oklahoma State opened the Big 12 Baseball Championship with a 4-0 loss to fifth-seeded Texas Wednesday morning at Globe Life Field.

The No. 7 Cowboys were shut out for only the second time this season, failing to score for the first time since their season opener, as they fell to 36-19 on the season. OSU will look to avoid elimination Thursday morning when the Pokes face the TCU/Baylor winner at 9 a.m.

The win was the sixth in a row for the 16th-ranked Longhorns, who OSU swept in a three-game series in Austin during the regular season, as UT improved to 40-17.

OSU starter Victor Mederos locked up in a pitcher's duel with Texas' southpaw Pete Hansen for much of the contest but took the loss to fall to 3-4. The Cowboys' sophomore righty allowed just two earned runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out five.

Offensively, OSU did not get much going against Hansen, who struck out 12 and allowed just three hits, all singles, in 7 2/3 innings to improve to 10-1 on the year.

Mederos kept UT off the scoreboard until the sixth. Following a leadoff single, a bunt single and an error allowed the Horns to take a 1-0 lead.

In the seventh, Texas got a leadoff home run to double its lead before an RBI single later in the inning made the score 3-0.

A solo home run in the ninth provided the final score.

OSU's first hit of the game did not come until a John Bay single with two outs in the fifth inning. Jake Thompson singled in the sixth inning, extending his hitting streak to 11 games, and Zach Ehrhard collected the Cowboys' final base hit in the eighth.