Oklahoma State Bats Come Alive In 19-7 Game One Win Over Niagara

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State’s offensive prowess was on display in game one of the Stillwater Regional as they beat Niagara 19-7 on 15 hits. 

With the win, the Cowboys moved to 41-17 on the season and will face Florida on Saturday, June 1 at 6 p.m. CT. 

“The guys took care of business,” said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. “Obviously, a lot of runs put up on the board, a lot of guys had good nights on offense. Some guys were on base virtually every time up, so we took our walks, we got some big hits, some timely hits. Thought scoring early in the game was big, kind of set the tone and then we battled on the mound. [Garcia] got stiff, so we had to get him out of there. Then Ryan [Bogusz] and Evan [O’Toole] took us the rest of the way. Good win for our ball club.”

Lefty Sam Garcia got the start for the Pokes as was solid through the first three innings of play as he gave up just two hits and one run, with four strikeouts. But things fell apart for him in the top of the fourth as he gave up four hits and four runs.

Garcia finished going just over three innings and giving up six hits and five runs, all of them earned, with five strikeouts and one walk.

Relief pitcher Evan O’Toole earned the win going four innings, giving up just two hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

As a team, the Cowboys combined for 15 hits and 15 RBIs, with just six strikeouts and 12 walks. 

Even though the Pokes were up 11-6. Colin Brueggemann had one of the hits of the game in the bottom of the fifth. After starting the game with two strikeouts, Brueggemann found himself with two outs, bases loaded and a full count after three-straight walks from Erhard, Meola and Daugherty.

With the sixth pitch at the at-bat, Brueggemann drove the ball deep to centerfield to clear the bases with a standup double to put the Pokes on top 14-6. 

It was a great offensive start for the Cowboys through the first three innings of play as they recorded 11 hits and 10 runs, three runs in the first inning and four runs in both the second and third innings.

Lane Forsythe was walked to start the game, with Carson Benge scoring him with a standup double. Benge was scored from second with another standup double, this one by Zach Ehrhard, who was driven in by Ian Daugherty with a hard single up the middle, making it 3-0.

Garcia recorded a three-up-three-down second inning, leading to the Pokes blowing the game wide up in the bottom of the frame. 

Forsythe was walked for a second time, leading to a two-run bomb by Nolan Schubart.

Aidan Meola scored Ehrhard with a single, who was scored by Daugherty with another standup double, making it a 7-0 game.

The Purple Eagles put one across in the top of the third with a hard-hit standup double by lead-off man Nick Groves, before Garcia got out of the inning. 

The Pokes put four more across in the bottom of the third, with Meola having the at-bat of the game, battling off 11 pitches before hitting the 12th for an RBI single, scoring Schubart and moving Ehrhard over to third to put the Pokes up 10-1. Daugherty hit an RBI double to score Ehrhard to make it 11-1. 

That’s when things fell apart for Garcia. He got into a bit of a jam in the top of the fourth as he gave up a double and walked two to load the bases. A two-RBI single from Kozar made it an 11-3 game with two outs, which was followed by a solid bunt down the third base line by Monile, with a throw from Wulfert which pulled Brueggemann off the bag to re-load the bases. The Purple Eagles continued the damage with a ground-rule double from Groves to plate two more runs, making it 11-5 and forcing Rob Walton to make a pitching change to bring in Ryan Bogusz.

Bogusz had a solid first inning as he recorded the third out of the inning by catching a screaming liner up the middle to end the inning.

The Purple Eagles plated another run in the top of the fifth inning to make it 11-6.

Two-straight two-out walks for the Pokes in the bottom of the fifth put two in scoring position for Daugherty, who had gone 2-for-3 with two RBIs to this point. Both Erhard and Meola advanced on a wild pitch, with Erhard being walked to load the bases bringing up Brueggemann. With two outs and full count, Brueggemann delivered in a big way with a bases-clearing standup double, forcing yet another Purple Eagles pitching change. 

With just one out in the bottom of the sixth, bases loaded, Ehrhard was walked on four-straight pitches to put another run on the board for the Pokes, 15-7, leading to a seventh pitcher for the Purple Eagles.

A bad throw from the second baseman on an easy grounder scored two more runs for the Pokes, 17-7, and leaving runners on the corners with Brueggemann back up to bat, who flew out to right field to end the inning.

Not much going on in the seventh for either side and a one-two-three inning for Evan O’Toole. Schubart started the bottom of the eighth with a standup double on a ball he hit a mile high, which landed about 10 feet in front of home plate. 

Ehrhard blasted a two-run shot out to left field, putting the Cowboys up 19-7 with no outs in the bottom of the eighth.