Oklahoma State Homers Its Way Into Regional Championship With 7-1 Win Over Florida

STILLWATER – Much like what happened in the game against Niagara, Oklahoma State used its offensive firepower to move into the Stillwater Regional championship as the Cowboys beat Florida, 7-1.

With the win, the Cowboys moved to 42-17 on the season and will face the winner between Florida and Nebraska Sunday evening at 6 CT. 

“That was a tremendous college baseball game,” Josh Holliday said of the Cowboys’ 7-1 win over Florida. “What a beautiful night, great atmosphere and great crowd. Two really talented rosters of kids squaring off and this guy right here [Brian Holiday], along with his teammates put together and awfully complete game. [Nolan Schubart] fires off to get us going and fired off another one not too long thereafter. I hope you understand what you’re witnessing with what he’s doing right now. You can watch baseball for a long time and you won’t see a kid doing what he’s doing.”

Brian Holiday got the start on the mound for the Pokes as was masterful as he posted a complete game, giving up just two hits and one run, with the second hit and lone run coming in the bottom of the ninth inning. He finished with 10 strikeouts and threw 131 pitches.

From the plate, Nolan Schubart led the way as he blasted two solo home runs measuring in at a combined 895 feet. He finished the game going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two home runs. 

Great start to the game offensively for the Pokes with Nolan Schubart getting things started with a monster two-out home run. Which was immediately followed by an equally hard-hit ball over the left field bullpen by Zach Ehrhard to put the Pokes up 2-0. Aidan Meola made it a turkey with a third-straight solo shot out to centerfield, but was unfortunately made to go back to second as a fan in the outfield interfered and pulled the ball over the wall.

The top of the third was equally as impressive for the Pokes as they put two more solo shots over the wall, with Carson Benge hitting the first and Schubart hitting his second-straight blast of the game out of the ballpark to right.

What made the offensive out-put impressive is the Pokes did it against a player who’s projected as a top-five overall pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, Jac Caglianone. He went just five innings, giving up seven hits, four runs, all of them earned. He did, however, record eight strikeouts.

After the offensive onslaught by the Pokes, it turned into what many expected the game to be: a pitchers duel. 

The Cowboys posted a lone single through the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, with the Gators posting no hits. 

But all that changed in the top of the seventh as Aidan Meola finally got his home run. With an 0-1 count, Meola put one over the wall in left to score Schubart, making it a 6-0 game with just one out. Ian Daugherty was hit in the next at-bat, followed by a four-pitch walk by Colin Brueggenmann, prompting a third pitching change of the day.  

The bottom of the seventh was just as good for Holiday as he walked the first hitter, Shelton, then struck out the next and recorded two fly ball outs. Same thing in the bottom of the eighth as he threw a fly out, a ground out and a strikeout to make it 113 total pitches.

Holiday came back out in the bottom of the ninth to finish out the game. He had allowed just one hit through the first nine innings of play before giving up a leadoff solo shot to Caglianone in the bottom of the ninth to make it 7-1. He’d go on to record a ground out and two strikeouts to finish out his complete game.