Oklahoma State Baseball Opener had Too Many Walks and Hit Batters, Lose 7-2
(This story originated with Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations and was written by Wade McWhorter.)
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Oklahoma State dropped its season opener Friday night as the 21st-ranked Cowboys suffered a 7-2 loss to Sam Houston at Don Sanders Stadium. OSU is now 6-6 all time in season openers under head coach Josh Holliday.
Beau Sylvester had a pair of hits to lead the Cowboys, while Zach Ehrhard picked up an RBI.
Sam Garcia took the loss on the mound as the southpaw allowed four runs on five hits in 4 1/3 innings. The High Point transfer struck out four and walked one.
Starter Coltin Atkinson picked up the win for the Bearkats as the righty worked five innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits. He tallied six strikeouts and did not walk a batter.
SHSU jumped out to an early lead in the first, getting back-to-back doubles from Easton Loyd and Walker Janek to plate its first run and then going up 2-0 on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Malachi Lott.
The Cowboys tied the score in the fifth. Aidan Meola and Sylvester opened the frame with singles, and a sacrifice bunt by Lane Forsythe moved two into scoring position. Up next, Ehrhard brought home OSU’s first run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Trailing by a run, the Pokes knotted the score at 2-2 when SHSU’s Lane Brewster committed a three-base error on a low fly ball to left field.
After giving up two runs in the first, Garcia retired 10 in a row before a leadoff single in the fifth began another rally for the Bearkats. Following a fielder’s choice with one out, Loyd provided the go-ahead run with a single as the home team took a 3-2 advantage.
A stellar defensive play by Carson Benge provided an inning-ending double play as the Cowboy right fielder made a diving catch and threw to first for the third out. However, SHSU added their fourth run on the play as Jake Tatom was ruled to have crossed home plate before the runner at first was called out.
The Bearkats added a run in the sixth to go up 5-2 before getting two more insurance runs on a two-out double by Jeffrey David in the seventh.
The two teams return to action Saturday at 3 p.m.