STILLWATER – Oklahoma State clinched its second Big 12 series win of the season with an 11-3 victory over Cincinnati Saturday night at O'Brate Stadium.
With the win, the Cowboys improved to 20-11 overall and 5-6 in Big 12 play, while UC fell to 21-12 overall and 4-7 in Big 12 play.
TP Wentworth had two home runs, including a seventh inning grand slam, and finished with a career-high five RBIs. Wentworth's grand slam marked the second-straight game OSU had a grand slam and the third game in a row where a Cowboy homered twice.
Alex Conover also had a big night, going 4-for-4 at the plate, while Brock Thompson had two hits and drove in three runs.
Mario Pesca made his eighth start and earned the win to improve to 4-2. The right-hander worked six innings and tied a career high with eight strikeouts while allowing just two earned runs.
Stormy Rhodes picked up his second save of the season as he kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard over the final three innings and struck out two.
The Cowboy offense got on the board in the first. Conover singled to lead off the inning, and Aidan Meolalater delivered a sacrifice fly down the right field line to make the score 1-0.
Cincinnati answered back in the second with a pair of two-out RBI singles to take a 2-1 lead.
OSU went back on top in the bottom of the inning when Wentworth got the scoring started with a solo blast to right field. Walks to Evan Saunders and Garrett Shull set up a Conover RBI double and a Thompson sacrifice fly to give the Pokes a 4-2 lead.
After giving up two runs in the second, Pesca retired 11-straight hitters, striking out six in the process. His streak ended on an error that later scored on a pop up that dropped in for a double and cut the OSU advantage to 4-3.
OSU broke the game open in the seventh, rallying for seven runs. After UC intentionally walked Colin Brueggemann to load the bases, Wentworth hit a grand slam for his second home run of the game and seventh bomb of the season.
Saunders then doubled and was followed by two more walks to load the bases for a Thompson two-run double and a 10-3 lead. Meola struck out swinging but reached safely on a wild pitch that also allowed Conover to score the seventh run of the inning.
OSU will look to sweep the Bearcats in Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m.
