Cowboys Use Energy From Ferrari First Pitch for Walk off Bedlam Win
STILLWATER – Oklahoma was threatening in the top of the ninth with the score tied 4-4 in the first of five scheduled Bedlam baseball games for this season. With runners on the corners and two outs, Oklahoma State brought in weekend closer Brett Standlee to pitch to Jimmy Crooks and the OU catcher flied out to Carson McCusker, who came running in to make the grab in short left field. That led the Cowboys to the bottom on the ninth where after Justin Campbell led off with a pinch-hit single to right field, Jaxson Crull got a bunt single, and then Hueston Morrill was safe on a sacrifice fielder’s choice to load the bases. That brought Caeden Trenkle to the plate and for the past two weeks he has been on fire at the plate. Trenkle delivered again with a single to right field and that scored Dylan Gardner from third where he was pinch running for Campbell.
A walk-off Bedlam win for the Pokes.
“I thought I might have missed my pitch with the one I fouled off,” Trenkle said of his game winning RBI single. “It was a fastball, but he threw me another and this one I got it where I needed it. It was awesome anytime you can celebrate like that with your teammates.”
The first was this non-conference game at O’Brate Stadium that got the craziest of starts. Oklahoma State 197-pound NCAA wrestling champion A.J. Ferrari, now preparing for this weekend’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Fort Worth, Texas walked out to the mound and threw a lob strike, but the next move was no lob and he went toward the Sooners first base dugout and flexed and seem to let the OU coaches and players know what they had in store for them. He then turned toward home plate and ripped off his tank top t-shirt. Then he went to the OSU players and started working on firing them up.
“He had us all fired up and the energy he gave us was great,” Trenkle said after the game. “I didn’t really know him, but I think some of our freshman had hung out with him. I’ve seen him wrestle, so I wasn’t surprised.”
“I didn’t see it all,” Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday said. “There was a pitch and then I saw him walking toward their dugout and there was a flex. He is a cool star, but I’m much more reserved about competition and that’s not how I would approach it. If I had a body like his though I might go home without a shirt on.”
It was Holliday’s 300th coaching win at Oklahoma State and while he said he wasn’t aware that he was at 299, he did say it meant something.
“It means something because our kids came together and found a way to win,” he explained.
“What a way for him to get 300,” added Trenkle. “I’m so thankful he’s my coach.”
The Cowboys jumped out in the first inning to a 2-0 lead when Max Hewitt doubled down the right field line right over first base and that scored Nolan McLean and Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
Oklahoma got one run back in the top of the second and then added a pair of runs in the fourth and a single run in the fifth for a 4-2 advantage.
The Cowboys added two runs to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth. Hueston Morrill scored from third when Encarnacion-Strand was hit by pitch with the bases loaded and no outs. Hewitt delivered again with a single and that scored another run. However, after Carson McCusker was struck out, the Sooners turned a double play on a Cade Cabbiness ground ball to end the threat.
The two teams were scoreless until the ninth inning. Oklahoma State is now 16-6-1 and prepares for a Big 12 series starting on Thursday at home with West Virginia. Oklahoma falls to 13-11 and will host TCU on Friday for a Big 12 series opener.