Oklahoma State Home Run Fest and Abram's Start Clinch Baylor Series
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State clinched its first Big 12 series win of the season with a 15-8 rout of Baylor Saturday night at O'Brate Stadium. With the victory, the 15th-ranked Cowboys improved to 19-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play, while Baylor fell to 9-14 and 2-3 in the league.
OSU collected 13 hits in the contest, four of those home runs.
Roc Riggio powered the Cowboys' offense, going 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs, while Carson Benge doubled his season home run total with second and fourth inning blasts and finished with a career-high five RBIs.
Ben Abram picked up his fourth win of the season on the mound, working 6 1/3 innings and striking out a career-high 10 while allowing four runs. Evan O'Toole and Drew Blake combined to close out the final 2 2/3 innings.
OSU pushed across a run in the first inning on Riggio's Big 12-leading eighth round tripper of the season.
The Cowboys piled on in the second, scoring five more runs behind back-to-back homers from Nolan Schubart and Benge. A wild-pitch and error by Baylor allowed two more runs to score, and a Riggio single tacked on another to give OSU a 6-1 lead after two.
OSU took control in the bottom of the fourth, scoring seven runs on six hits, including Benge's second long ball of the night and Riggio's third and fourth RBIs of the game, which came on a double. OSU's seven-run inning gave it a comfortable 13-1 lead.
Baylor responded with a solo homer in the fifth and a pair of two-run homers in the seventh to cut the Cowboys' lead to seven, but OSU answered back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Bears added two more in the eighth inning to make it a 15-8 ballgame.
The two teams conclude the series Sunday at 1 p.m. with OSU looking for its fourth series-sweep of the season.