Oklahoma State Pitches and Hits Their Way to Cougar Sweep and No. 2 Big 12 Seed
HOUSTON, Texas – Oklahoma State swept its final games of the regular season Saturday against Houston at Schroeder Park, winning the opener, 20-3, before posting a 9-2 victory in the finale. With the wins, the 17th-ranked Cowboys improved to 36-16 and finished second in the Big 12 with a 19-9 conference mark. It marks the eighth time in 11 seasons OSU has finished in the top two in the league standings under head coach Josh Holliday. The series with Houston was shortened to two games, the Saturday doubleheader because or the severe weather in Houston.
In their performances against the Cougars, Sam Garcia and Brian Holiday became the 17th and 18th different pitchers in program history to record 100 strikeouts in a season. The feat has now been achieved 22 times by a Cowboy hurler.
Furthermore, with Garcia and Holiday reaching 100 strikeouts, it marks only the fifth time OSU has had two pitchers reach that milestone in the same season, and they are the first duo to do it since Thomas Hatch and Trey Cobb in 2016.
The opener also saw the Cowboys eclipse 100 home runs for the second-straight season as they went deep three times. It marks the first time OSU has reached triple digits in homers in consecutive seasons since 1996-97, and the Pokes now have 103 on the year as they head into postseason play.
In game one, which resumed in the bottom of the first inning after being suspended due to weather on Friday, Avery Ortiz, Zach Ehrhard, Nolan Schubart and Tyler Wulfert each drove in three runs, and Garcia picked up the win on the mound to improve to 6-3.
Garcia worked seven innings and struck out seven while allowing just two runs on three hits. The senior now has 102 strikeouts on the season.
OSU jumped into the lead in the opener with a six-run rally in the third as the Pokes sent 10 batters to the plate. Ortiz got things started with a leadoff home run, and an RBI single by Schubart brought home the second run.
Aidan Meola and Lane Forsythe picked up RBIs to make the score 4-0 before a wild pitch and an RBI double off the bat of Wulfert capped off the scoring.
UH got a pair of runs back in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer by Alex Lopez.
Leading 7-2, the Cowboys put the game away in the sixth as they erupted for 10 runs, all coming with two outs. Ehrhard and Schubart did much of the damage as Ehrhard drove in three runs with a double, and Schubart smashed a two-run homer.
In the nightcap, Holiday earned the win to move to 5-3 as the righty worked 8 1/3 innings and tied his career high with 14 strikeouts while allowing just two runs on six hits. It marked his second-straight double digit strikeout performance and fifth of the year; he has 111 punchouts on the season.
Offensively, Schubart was 3-for-4 with five RBIs and delivered another homer, his team-leading 17th of the season, while Carson Benge went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
OSU plated two runs in the first inning, then went up 4-0 on a two-run bomb by Schubart in the third.
In the fifth, back-to-back RBI doubles by Ehrhard and Schubart made the score 6-1, and the lead reached 8-1 in the sixth when Schubart brought home two more runs with a single.
OSU will be the No. 2 seed at the Big 12 Championship and will open play Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Globe Life Field.