Cowboys Baseball Smokes UCF in Series Opener

STILLWATER - Oklahoma State cruised to a 12-0 win over UCF in Friday night's series opener at O'Brate Stadium. With the win, the Cowboys improved to 20-21 overall and 8-11 in Big 12 play, while UCF fell to 24-21 and 6-16 in the league.

Harrison Bodendorf got the ball for his 12th start of the season and picked up the win with eight innings of shutout ball. The southpaw struck out seven while allowing just four hits and one walk to improve to 8-1 on the season.

Colin Brueggemann and Brock Thompson did the heavy lifting for the Cowboy offense, as both had two home runs and combined for six RBIs.

The Cowboys scored in each of the first five innings to take control.

In the bottom of the first, the Cowboys got runners at second and third with no outs after Alex Conover was hit by a pitch and Brayden Smith doubled. The next batter, Nolan Schubart, delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to give OSU a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, the Pokes took advantage of an error to add two runs, with a sacrifice fly by Conover making the score 3-0.

The lead reached 5-0 when Brueggeman jolted a two-run homer to right-center field in the third, and after Bodendorf finished his fourth scoreless inning, Thompson drilled a solo home run to right field to push the advantage to six.

In the fifth inning, Brueggemann reached the bleachers for the second time on the day — this one a solo shot for his 11th round tripper of the season. And after a Jayson Jones single, it was deja vu as Thompson left the stadium with his second long ball of the day and fifth of the year.

The sixth inning marked the first time in the game in which the Cowboys failed to score, but the Cowboys got right back to it in the seventh, with three runners crossing home plate, all on bases-loaded walks, to make it a 12-0 game.

Stormy Rhodes came out of the OSU bullpen and worked the final inning, striking out two to secure the shutout.

The Cowboys will look to clinch a conference series win Saturday, with the second game of the series starting at 6 p.m.