Kansas Walks Off Cowboys to Advance in Big 12, Oklahoma State Left to Wait on NCAA
(The Big 12 Conference and Robert Allen of Pokes Report contributed to this story.)
ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma State dropped a 7-6 contest to No. 21 and second-seeded Kansas in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Baseball Championship Thursday at Globe Life Field.
With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 28-23, while KU improved to 43-14. OSU now awaits Monday's NCAA Baseball Selection Show to find out if it will earn a 12th consecutive NCAA Regional bid as an at-large team. Kansas faces No. 3 TCU, who beat Houston later in the night, in the semifinals on Friday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
“I think that we’re a really good baseball team,” Holliday said to the Tulsa World after the loss. “Our best baseball has been as of late. I believe in (our team). And I believe that something good is awaiting them.”
Gabe Davis took the loss on the mound to fall to 0-3 as the Jayhawks scored the winning run off the OSU right-hander in walk-off fashion in the ninth.
Offensively, the top of the Cowboys' order drove in five of their six runs, with Brayden Smith and Alex Conover each collecting two RBIs.
Harry Bodendorf made his 15th start for the Cowboys, working 6 1/3 innings and allowing five runs on six hits, and he tallied four strikeouts to give him 100 on the season. The southpaw became the 17th different OSU pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts in a season; it's the 21st time in program history that feat has been achieved.
KU jumped out to an early lead, opening the first inning with back-to-back doubles by Derek Cerda and Brady Ballinger to go up 1-0.
The Cowboys would go on top in the third, rallying for three runs with two outs. Brock Thompson drew a walk to open the inning, and three batters later, Smith deposited a pitch into the right-field seats to put OSU up 2-1. The blast was Smith's 11th homer of the season.
Up next, Conover walked and stole second, setting up Nolan Schubart, who delivered an RBI single to right field to make the score 3-1. KU would answer in the bottom of the inning, cutting its deficit to one on a solo homer by Jackson Hauge.
OSU put up another crooked number in the fourth as it strung together three hits to take a 6-2 lead. Kollin Ritchie led off the inning with a double, and a single by Avery Ortiz brought home the first run. Two batters later, it was Conover with an opposite-field hit to bring home a pair of runs and extend the advantage to four.
That score remained until the bottom of the seventh. Following a walk and a single to put runners on the corners, the Jayhawks cut their deficit in half with a sacrifice fly. Another walk ended Bodendorf's day on the mound and brought Watkins out of the bullpen.
After a strikeout for the second out of the inning, KU tied the game at 6-6 on a three-run home run off the bat of Ballinger.
The game remained tied until the ninth. After Davis issued a leadoff walk, a fielder's choice put two runners on with no outs as the runner reached second safely. The Cowboys then recorded an out to put KU runners on the corners, and an intentional walk loaded the bases.
That brought Mike Koszewski to the plate, and he delivered an RBI single to shallow left field to plate the game-winning run. Koszewski ran the count full against Oklahoma State’s Gabe Davis before hitting a single to left field for the walk-off winner. It’s the Jayhawks’ sixth walk-off win of the season, tying a program record.
“They just beat us,” Holliday said. “They beat us on a tight play there at the end.”
