5 Thoughts: Cowboys Roll Past Sooners To Clinch Bedlam Series

STILLWATER – It was a solid night on the diamond at ONEOK Field for Oklahoma State baseball as they rolled to a 7-3 win over OU, effectively clinching the Bedlam series this season.

The Pokes improved to 28-15-1 on the season with the win, while also moved to 26-9 over the Sooners in nine seasons under Josh Holliday. Not too shabby if you ask me.

While pitching has been limited for Rob Walton the past multiple weeks due to injury, it certainly wasn’t lacking last night as we saw a few guys we haven’t seen on a mound in quite some time do quite well.

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We also saw the bats stay hot in Bedlam following the offensive explosion in the Kansas series.

So, here are my 5 Thoughts on Oklahoma State’s Bedlam clinching 7-3 win over OU on Tuesday.

Perfect outing following a solid series win over Kansas

Was it the perfect game by any means? No, but it was exactly what Oklahoma State needed following a solid series win over Kansas. Sure, major college baseball takes an insane amount of talent, but baseball is all about confidence and mindset and the Cowboys certainly kept things rolling in the right direction. With all the injuries in the pitching room and the two losses to OU a few weeks back, things certainly could’ve taken a turn for the worse up in Lawrence and in Tulsa last night. But the Cowboys fought back and took care of business, something that’s certainly going to help against a salty Baylor team this weekend.

Tulsa remains Stillwater-East

Since taking over the program in June of 2012, Josh Holliday’s Cowboys have dominated the Bedlam series in Tulsa. The Pokes have an 8-2 record over the Sooners in Tulsa, which include some impressive wins recently.

7-3 W 2021

5-1 W 2019

10-1 W 2018

9-2 W 2018

10-9 W 2016

3-1 L 2016

9-6 W 2015

2-1 W 2014

8-1 L 2014

4-3 W 2013

Christian Encarnacion-Strand continues to stay hot

I honestly can’t say I expected CES to stay on fire from the plate throughout the entire season. Sure, he’s had a couple of off games, but he’s hitting .374 on the season with 15 homers, 16 doubles, three triples and 58 RBIs on 67 hits. And last night against the Sooners was no different, CES went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. No question he’s going to be making some big-time money after his time in Stillwater.

Noah Sifrit was solid in his first appearance in two years

Noah Sifrit threw in a game for the first time since the 2019 season last night against OU and looked pretty good. He struck out five and giving up just two hits in three shutout innings to pick up his first win since March 6, 2019 against Wichita State. Sifrit came to Oklahoma State as a pitcher in 2018 and was a two-way player during the 2019 season. With pitching in the injured state it’s in right now, Sifrit could play a decent role moving forward.

Hueston Morrill, pitcher? Yes.

Rob Walton brough middle infielder Hueston Morrill into pitch against OU in the eighth inning of last night’s game. Morrill had a 1.40 ERA in high school for 153 strikeouts, so he certainly has the experience. The first batter Morrill faced was a strikeout, which was rather impressive. Sure, he gave up a meatball homerun to the next batter, then walked two, but he recorded a fly ball out and another strikeout to get out of the inning. For me, the most impressive part was he was consistently hitting low to mid-90s, while hitting 95 towards the end of his short appearance.