ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma State's bid for a sixth Big 12 Championship title game appearance in the last eight tournaments came to an end Saturday night as the fourth-seeded Cowboys dropped a 9-2 contest to fifth-seeded Texas at Globe Life Field. With the loss, the No. 7 Cowboys fell to 39-20 on the season. OSU will learn its NCAA Regional fate Monday when the field of 64 is released at 11 a.m. (CDT) on ESPN2; the 16 NCAA Regional host sites will be announced Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (CDT) via ESPN bottom lines and NCAA Baseball social media.
Texas (42-18) used five pitchers in Sunday's second semifinal contest against the Cowboys, with that group combining to limit OSU to just five hits, two of those by Caeden Trenkle.
Two errors proved costly for the Cowboys as six of UT's runs were unearned, and OSU also left 11 runners stranded on the basepaths.
Hueston Morrill took the loss on the mound, falling to 1-3 on the season, as the right-hander allowed six runs on four hits in two innings of work.
The Cowboys took the game's initial lead in the first. Zach Ehrhard walked to open the inning, and Roc Riggio followed with a perfectly executed slash on a hit-and-run to put OSU runners on the corners. Ehrhard made a weird turn at second base and the .330 hitter came in limping to third and had to be removed from the game. Hopefully, that injury is not serious. Up next, Jake Thompson lofted a fly ball to left field for a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 advantage for the Pokes.
The Longhorns erased their deficit in the second inning, plating a pair of runs against Morrill on two hits and a throwing error to go up 2-1.
Texas added to its lead in the third, rallying for five runs, all of them unearned. After loading the bases with no outs following two singles and another throwing error, Morrill then hit the next batter with a pitch, bringing home a run and ending his day on the mound.
Kale Davis came on in relief of Morrill and struck out the first two batters he faced before a bases-clearing double by Trey Faltine extended the UT lead to 6-1. Another RBI double would give the Horns a six-run advantage before OSU got out of the inning.
Trailing 9-1 through 4 ½, the Cowboys tallied their final run on a solo home run by McLean in the bottom of the fifth. The blast was McLean's 14th of the season, tying him for the team lead.
