Brooms Out for Oklahoma State Baseball Sunday vs. Cincinnati

(This story was originated by Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations and was written by Wade McWhorter. It was added to by Pokes Report publisher Robert Allen.)

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State completed its first Big 12 series sweep of the season with a 10-6 win over Cincinnati Sunday at O’Brate Stadium. The win was the fifth in a row for the 20th ranked Cowboys, tying for their longest winning streak of the season, as they improved to 25-11 and 10-5 in conference play; Cincinnati fell to 20-16 and 7-8 in the league. The Cowboys are now all alone in third place behind two teams that are 11-4 in West Virginia and Oklahoma. The Mountaineers and Sooners both swept opponents this weekend in UCF for West Virginia, while OU swept Kansas State. OSU has the tiebreaker on both WVU and OU should they tie with either.

OSU tallied a new season high with five home runs in the contest; the Pokes finished with eight round trippers in the series.

Zach Ehrhard went 3-for-4 with a homer and recorded his 50th hit of the season, while Aidan Meola also logged three hits, including a homer, and collected four RBIs. Kollin Ritchie, Ian Daugherty and Colin Brueggemann also went deep for the Cowboys. Ehrhard still leads the Big 12 in hitting in conference play. He got hit No. 50 on the season late in the contest.

OSU used seven pitchers in the contest. Drew Blake picked up the win, improving to 3-0 on the season. Starter Gabe Davis worked two innings, striking out two while allowing three runs. Tommy Molsky was the first to enter in relief, and the junior right-hander worked 3 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts and allowed just one run.

The Bearcats took an early 2-0 advantage in their first at bat with a first pitch home run from Kerrington Cross and an RBI triple from Tommy O’Connor, but a response from OSU followed in the second inning.

The first response came from Meola leaving the yard for his second homer of the series and fifth of the season. The following at-bat, Brueggemann homered to right field for his team-high ninth bomb and his second consecutive game with a homer as the Cowboys tied the score at 2-2.

UC regained the lead off Davis in the third on an RBI double by Josh Kross, but Molsky came out of the bullpen and, after walking his first batter and loading the bases with no outs, struck out three consecutive Bearcats to halt the threat.

The Pokes rallied in the fifth inning as Ritchie smashed a ball over the right-field wall to knot the game at 3-3; the homer was his fifth of the year. The home team wasn’t done as Ehrhard knocked a double down the left field line to set up a Nolan Schubart RBI single and give OSU a one-run advantage.

The game became tied shortly after on a solo home run by Christian Mitchelle in the sixth, but a quick answer came from the Pokes in the bottom of the inning.

Lane Forsythe started the frame with a single, and Daugherty followed with a deep shot to left center for his third homer of the year. Later that inning, Ehrhard continued his hot streak with a solo blast to right field, his sixth of the season.

Cincinnati added two quick runs in the seventh to make it a 7-6 ballgame before Ryan Bogusz struck out Mitchelle to end the inning with the one-run lead intact.

An RBI double off the bat of Meola gave OSU a two-run cushion after seven innings, and the Cowboys added two more runs in the eighth when Meola singled up the middle with the bases loaded, bringing his RBI total for the series to 10.

OSU’s bullpen shut down Cincinnati over the final two innings, with Carson Benge recording two strikeouts in the ninth to close out the contest.

The Cowboys return to action Tuesday when they host Dallas Baptist in a midweek matchup at O’Brate Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.