Mathis Homers in the Ninth to Get Pokes a Tie with Grand Canyon

(Pokes Report publisher Robert Allen contributed to this story.)

STILLWATER – For just the sixth time in program history, an Oklahoma State baseball game ended in a tie as the 11th-ranked Cowboys battled Grand Canyon to a 4-4 score Sunday at O’Brate Stadium. The game was called after nine innings due to a travel curfew for the Lopes. The action boiled down to the ninth inning as the two teams were tied 3-3 going to the top of the ninth. Each team pushed a run across in their half of the inning to create the final result. 

Oklahoma State had three innings where they had bases loaded and could not get a run in.

“We’ve got a lot to learn from in this one and we will go back any analyze each situation to see what we could have done to put the situation more in our favor and accomplish what we wanted in those situations,” Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday said afterwards.

OSU is now 9-0-1 on the season and still undefeated on its home field at 6-0-1, while GCU is 3-7-1.

The last OSU game to end in a tie came on March 18, 2018, against Seton Hall at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium; that game was also forced to be called due to a travel curfew (as well as weather) with the two teams tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The final inning on Sunday provided some clutch hitting from both ballclubs.

In the top of the ninth, GCU recorded a pair of one-out singles. After a bizarre caught stealing left a runner at second, Jacob Wilson doubled to plate the go-ahead run as the Lopes went up 4-3.

In the bottom of the frame, the Cowboys were down to their final strike. But on a full count, Brock Mathis smashed his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot to left-center field, to tie the score.

“We want to celebrate what Bock accomplished there coming up clutch and down to the last strike as he really struck the ball well,” Holliday added. “It was a clutch play.”

The game would be called after the next Cowboy, Alix Garcia, grounded out.OSU’s first three runs came compliments of Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who delivered a three-run homer in the first inning to give the Cowboys a 3-2 lead. The round tripper was Encarncaion-Strand’s team-leading fifth of the season.

Cowboy starter Bryce Osmond worked five innings and allowed three runs on five hits while tying a career high with six strikeouts.

Osmond was followed on the mound by Roman Phansalkar, who tossed 2 1/3 shutout innings before giving way to Trevor Martin, who came up big in the eighth by striking out both batters he faced in the frame to strand a GCU runner on second base and keep the score tied at 3-3.

OSU returns to action Tuesday when the Cowboys travel to Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts at 6 p.m.