Cowboy Baseball Evens Series, Beats WVU 7-2
STILLWATER – Oklahoma State set up a series rubber game with a 7-2 win over West Virginia Friday night at O'Brate Stadium.
With the victory, the 11th-ranked Cowboys improved to 17-7-1 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play and will take on WVU (11-10, 3-2) in Saturday's rubber game at 1 p.m.
Justin Campbell continued his brilliance on the mound to improve to 3-0 as the right-hander worked seven innings and allowed just one run on six hits. He struck out six and did not issue a walk.
Campbell extended his streak of scoreless innings pitched to 28 2/3 until the Mountaineers snapped it by plating a run in the sixth inning. Campbell had not allowed a run since his first outing of the season on Feb. 24 against Little Rock.
Offensively, Christian Encarnacion-Strandcontinued to lead the way for the Cowboys as he went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs. Nolan McLean and Cade Cabbiness also had three hits each for OSU.
OSU took the early lead when it loaded the bases in the first inning before Max Hewitt drew an RBI walk, and the Cowboys doubled their lead in the third when Carson McCusker scored on a throwing error.
The Pokes continued their momentum in the fourth, once again loading the bases before Encarnacion-Strand made WVU pay with a grand slam over the left-center field wall to extend OSU's lead to 6-0.
That was more than enough support for Campbell, who along with his three wins has a team-best 0.55 ERA and leads the Cowboys with 50 strikeouts.
Parker Scott worked the final two innings in his first relief appearance of the year and allowed one run on three hits while striking out a pair.