Once Confident Cowboys Drop Fifth in a Row Losing Series to West Virginia

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State suffered a 9-5 loss to West Virginia in the second game of the series Saturday night at O'Brate Stadium. With the loss, the 14th-ranked Cowboys fell to 23-13 overall and 7-7 in conference play, while the 25th-ranked Mountaineers improved to 24-10 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play.

WVU plated four runs with two outs in the eighth inning to doom the Cowboys, with the big blow in the inning a three-run home run by Landon Wallace.

Roc Riggio and Chase Adkison sparked the OSU offense, each collecting a double and a single; Riggio and Carson Benge reached base safely three times each.

Ben Abram got the starting nod for OSU, working four innings and striking out three while allowing five runs. Isaac Stebens worked the final five innings, allowing four runs while striking out five Mountaineers, but suffered his first loss of the season to fall to 4-1.

The Cowboys jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a WVU error on a groundball to third base resulted in two unearned runs, but the visitors tied the contest in the third on a sacrifice fly and a balk that allowed two runs to cross home.

OSU answered with three doubles and two runs in the fourth inning courtesy of Adkison, Brown and Riggio to take a 4-2 lead.

WVU came back with three runs in the fifth to jump back on top and threatened to add to their lead in the sixth when the Mountaineers loaded the bases with one out against Stebens. But Stebens delivered for the Cowboys, fielding a comebacker to get the second out at the plate and then striking out the next batter on three pitches to hold the Mountaineers scoreless in the frame and keep OSU's deficit at 5-4.

OSU tied the game in the seventh when Nolan Schubart singled to center field to bring home Benge and knot the score at 5-5.

The Cowboys will be back at O'Brate Stadium Sunday for the series finale, scheduled for a noon first pitch.