Oklahoma State Avoids Series Sweep With 6-4 Win In Finale
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Oklahoma State picked up a 6-4 win over Kansas State in Sunday’s series finale at Tointon Family Stadium.
With the victory, the 15th-ranked Cowboys improved to 26-14 and 11-7 in the Big 12, while K-State fell to 24-15 and 9-9 in the league.
Lane Forsythe was 3-for-3 for the Cowboys, while Jaxson Crull and Colin Brueggemann both homered.
OSU used six pitchers in the contest, with Brennan Phillips picking up the win in relief of starter Gabe Davis, who tossed 3 1/3 innings and struck out three. The southpaw retired the final two batters in the fourth and is now 1-0 on the season.
The Cowboy bullpen kept K-State off the scoreboard over the final 5 2/3 innings, and Carson Benge earned his team leading third save as he took the mound in the ninth inning and sealed the win.
Ian Daugherty put OSU on the board first as he delivered a sacrifice fly to plate Nolan Schubart and give the Pokes a 1-0 advantage in the second inning.
K-State answered in the bottom of the frame, taking advantage of two hits and two walks to knot the score at 1-1 as a free pass with the bases loaded brought home the tying run.
The Cowboys jumped back on top in the third. After a leadoff walk, Crull smashed a two-run homer to right-center field, his fourth round-tripper of the season, and OSU later added to the lead on a two-out RBI single by Kollin Ritchie to go up 4-1.
The home team trimmed its deficit to one in the bottom of the frame, getting an RBI single from Raphael Pelletier and adding its third run on a wild pitch.
In the fourth, the Cowboys once again used the long ball to get things started as Brueggemann led off the inning with his team-leading 10th bomb of the season. OSU increased its lead to 6-3 on an RBI groundout by Benge later in the frame.
K-State plated the game’s final run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Brendan Jones.
OSU returns to action Tuesday with a road contest at Oral Roberts.