Mixed Night on the Diamonds, Cowgirls Get Walk Off Win, Cowboys Lose to WVU

STILLWATER – Plenty of action on McElroy on Thursday night as both Oklahoma State softball and baseball opened Big 12 Conference series in order to get them completed ahead of Easter Sunday. The Cowbhatoys welcomed in West Virginia in a game that went down to the final out. The Cowgirls have been full of late heroics lately and that continued against Iowa State in that series opener at Cowgirl Stadium.

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After the Cyclones tied the game in the top of the sixth, the Cowgirls came up with a chance to secure the win in the bottom of the seventh inning. Reagan Wright singled and then Kiley Naomi sent a homer over the left field wall with two outs to give the Cowgirls the walk-off win. Tonight's win marked Coach Gajewki's 200th career win in just his sixth season at the helm. Oklahoma State improved to 27-5 (3-1 Big 12) on the season with the 3-1 walk-off victory against Iowa State. 

Returning All-American Carrie Eberle (11-1, 0.64 ERA) got the start in the circle for the Cowgirls. She threw a complete game and allowed just one earned run, while striking out four. 

Michaela Richbourg put the Cowgirls on the board first with an RBI double in the second inning that scored Chelsea Alexander from first. Alysen Febrey also tacked on two hits on the night, which improved her average to a team-leading .436 on the season. 

Oklahoma State softball will be back in action for game two of the series against the Cyclones tomorrow, April 2nd at 6 p.m. CT.

The 11th-ranked Cowboys baseball team dropped a 4-3 contest to West Virginia in the series opener at O'Brate Stadium. WVU got the winning runs with one swing of the bat in the fourth as Mikey Kluska homered with two outs. The three-run shot to left field put the Mountaineers on top 4-1.

The Cowboys faced the three-run deficit until the seventh. After loading the bases with one out on a walk and two singles, back-to-back pinch-hit RBI singles by Justin Campbell and Max Hewitt cut the WVU lead to 4-3 before consecutive strikeouts ended the inning.

In the eighth, OSU once again loaded the bases with one out but this time failed to score after grounding into an inning-ending double play.

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Down to its final out, OSU got a pinch hit triple from Jaxson Crull to put the tying run 90 feet away. Caeden Trenkle then walked to put Cowboys on the corners, but a strikeout ended the game.
 
With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 16-7-1 overall and 4-3 in Big 12 play, while WVU is now 11-9 and 3-1 in the conference.

Starter Bryce Osmond took the loss on the mound, falling to 2-2 on the season. The right-hander worked six innings and allowed four runs, three of them earned, on five hits; he struck out four and issued three walks.

The two teams return to action Friday at 6 p.m. before closing out the series Saturday at 1 p.m.