TCU Edges Oklahoma State in Score-athon Opener to Baseball Series

FORT WORTH, Texas – Oklahoma State had its five-game winning streak snapped Friday night as the 10th-ranked Cowboys dropped a 9-8 contest to No. 6 TCU in the series opener at Lupton Stadium. With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 21-8-1 overall and 6-4 in Big 12 Conference play, while the Frogs are now 24-9 and 8-2 in the league.

OSU tallied a season-high 18 hits in the contest, with both Caeden Trenkle and Max Hewitt going 4-for-5 on the night. Nolan McLean, Jake Thompson and Hueston Morrill each had two hits apiece for the Pokes.

Kale Davis, who came on in relief of OSU starter Parker Scott to open the fifth inning, took the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season. The right-hander gave up four runs on four hits in two innings of work.

TCU, which hit four home runs in the contest, took the game's initial lead in the second as a two-run blast by Gray Rodgers put the Frogs on top.

But the Cowboys answered in their next at bat. After back-to-back singles by Matt Golda and Trenkle to open the third, a foul out to right field moved the runners up. A balk would bring home OSU's first run before a two-out single by Hewitt plated Trenkle with the tying run.

The Frogs regained the lead in the fourth, opening the inning with two-straight singles before a triple off the bat of Phillip Sikes gave the home team a 4-2 advantage. Scott would escape without further damage as TCU stranded runners on the corners.

OSU was not down long, however, as they continued their clutch two-out hitting in the fifth. After the Pokes loaded the bases with one out on a pair of singles and a walk, an infield fly brought the second out of the inning and a new pitcher out of the TCU bullpen.

Down to their final out of the inning, OSU got a two-RBI single from Morrill to tie the game before Cade Cabbiness followed with an RBI single of his own to give the Cowboys their first lead of the day at 5-4.

TCU would use the long ball to once again take control of the scoreboard. In the sixth, the Frogs retook the lead with a three-run homer as Gene Wood's shot put them up, 7-5.

The Cowboys answered with a run in the seventh on Thompson's RBI single, but TCU got a pair of solo homers in the bottom of the inning to take a 9-6 advantage.

OSU pulled to within a run in the eighth on Hewitt's two-RBI double, but a strikeout with a pair of runners on prevented the Cowboys from adding to their run total.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 2 p.m.