Booming Bats and Stormy Pitching Help Oklahoma State Beat Louisville for 1st Win
(This story originated with Oklahoma State University Athletic Media Relations and was written by Wade McWhorter.)
ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma State scored a dozen unanswered runs Saturday to pick up its first win of 2025 with a 12-3 victory over Louisville at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. With the win, the 13th-ranked Cowboys improved to 1-1 on the season; Louisville is also 1-1.
A trio of OSU pitchers made their Cowboy debuts and shined against the Cardinals. Starter Harrison Bodendorf picked up the win as the southpaw struck out six in five innings while allowing three runs on four hits.
Freshman Stormy Rhodes tossed three shutout frames, struck out three and allowed only one hit in relief of Bodendorf, and Mario Pesca retired all three batters in the ninth to seal the win.
Offensively, the Pokes smashed three home runs, with Colin Brueggemann, Avery Ortiz and Jayson Jones going yard. Eight different Cowboys collected hits, with Jones and Nolan Schubart each going 3-for-4 at the plate and Schubart driving in three runs.
Louisville touched Bodendorf for a pair of runs in the third to take an early lead. An error opened the inning and a one-out walk put a runner in scoring position. An RBI single by Zion Rose brought home the first run before a wild pitch later in the frame made the score 2-0.
The Cardinals went up 3-0 in the top of the fourth, but OSU took momentum and the lead in the bottom of the inning.
In that pivotal frame, the Cowboys loaded the bases as the first three batters reached safely on a single, walk and hit by pitch. Up next, Brueggemann unloaded on the first pitch he saw and delivered a grand slam into the seats in right field.
Leading 4-3, the Pokes added to their lead in the fifth as Schubart brought home a run with a single.
OSU put the game away over the final three innings, scoring seven runs over that stretch.
A four-run sixth was highlighted by a two-RBI single off the bat of Schubart, and the Cowboys got solo homers from Ortiz in the seventh and Jones in the eighth.
The Cowboys conclude tourney play Sunday when they take on 13th-ranked Texas at 6:30 p.m.