ARLINGTON, Texas – Kollin Ritchie’s career day and a dominant pitching performance lifted Oklahoma State to its first win of the season Sunday as the Cowboys knocked off 17th-ranked Vanderbilt, 11-1, in eight innings in OSU’s final game of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field.
Ritchie went 3-for-6 with a double and two home runs, including a solo shot in the eighth that gave OSU the run-rule victory, and collected a career-high six RBIs.
That came on the heels of a pitching performance from Ethan Lund, Noah Wech and Stormy Rhodes that limited the Commodores (1-2) to only two hits and racked up 13 strikeouts.
Wech picked up the win in relief, working 3 1/3 innings and allowing just one run on one hit and striking out three.
Lund racked up a career-best eight strikeouts in his first start of the year as the southpaw tossed 3 2/3 shutout innings without allowing a hit.
The Cowboys broke through offensively in the fifth. After they loaded the bases with two walks and a single, Garrett Shull delivered a sacrifice fly to right field for the game’s first run. Up next, Ritchie blasted a three-run bomb to right field to put the Pokes up 4-0.
OSU put the game away with a six-run rally in the sixth. Once again, they loaded the bases on a hit and two free passes before pinch hitter Campbell Smithwick was hit with a pitch to bring home a run. Following an RBI single by Brock Thompson and another sac fly by Shull, Ritchie stepped to the plate and brought home two more runs with a double.
Colin Brueggemann capped the scoring flurry with a single that extended OSU’s lead to 10-0 after six innings of play.
After going hitless through the first six innings, Vanderbilt broke up the no-no and the shutout when Logan Johnstone led off the seventh with a homer to right field.
That was all the Commodores would get as Ritchie sent the fans home early with a towering solo blast over the right field wall with one out in the eighth.
OSU returns to action Thursday in Phoenix when it opens a four-game series at Grand Canyon.
