Cowboys bring out big bats, even series

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State recorded its most runs in a game against Kansas State in over two decades Saturday, taking down the Wildcats, 19-5, at O’Brate Stadium to even the three-game series.

With the victory, the No. 13 Cowboys pushed their record to 34-15 overall and improved to 12-8 in Big 12 play. For the 15th-ranked Wildcats, Saturday’s result dropped them to 32-19 on the year and 12-8 in the conference.

The two teams will decide the series with a Sunday rubber game scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

The Cowboys’ 19 runs on the day marked their most versus the Wildcats since plating 23 against them on March 7, 1997. On the season, Saturday marked OSU’s most hits versus a Big 12 opponent with 18, while also tying a season high in runs against a conference opponent.

Success was aplenty in the box as eight Cowboys collected RBIs. Chase Adkison led the charge with four RBIs, while Roc Riggio and David Mendham finished with three on the day. In the at-bat department, six players tallied multiple hits, with Tyler Wulfert starring, going 4-for-4.

Adkison was one of three Cowboys who homered, along with Riggio and Marcus Brown, and the OSU catcher finished 3-for-4 on the day.

Bayden Root came out of the bullpen to earn his team-leading seventh win as he improved to 7-1 on the season. The right-hander allowed a single hit across his two shutout innings on the mound.

K-State got on the scoreboard early in the first, posting a pair of doubles to go up 1-0, but it was OSU who made waves with a five-run first inning.

The Cowboys scored all five of those runs with two outs as Wulfert’s bases-loaded single brought home the first two before Mendham smacked a bases-clearing double off the wall in left-center field to put OSU up, 5-1.

The Cowboys moved their lead to 7-1 in the second with RBIs from Carson Benge and Nolan Schubart.

The Wildcats rallied in the fourth, opening the inning with three consecutive homers to cut their deficit to 7-4. However, Root came on in relief of starter Ben Abram and got OSU out of the inning without further damage before Adkison got a run back in the bottom of the frame with his sixth homer of the year.

Thanks to a five-hit, six-run rally in the fifth inning, OSU expanded its lead to double digits at 14-4. Adkison highlighted the stretch, unloading a three-RBI triple to right-center, while Colin Brueggemann, Riggio and Schubart also delivered RBIs.

The Wildcats pushed across a run in the sixth, but the Cowboys came back with a solo homer from Brown and a two-run shot from Riggio, his 17th of the season, then posted two more runs in the seventh.

Saturday’s results were a totally different story even though the Cowboys rallied before falling 10-9.

Nolan Schubart collected his 15th multi-hit game of the season for the Pokes, going 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs, while Chase Adkison was 2-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs.

Juaron Watts-Brown took the loss and dropped to 5-3 as the right-hander worked 4 1/3 innings and struck out six while allowing six runs.

Isaac Stebens came out of the bullpen with two runners on and one out the seventh inning and allowed two runners to score but went on to work a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, striking out five to give OSU a chance to come back.

K-State took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but Nolan McLean’s first home run since March 31 and ninth of the season tied the game in the bottom of the inning.

The Wildcats scratched across two more runs in the third inning, but OSU continued to battle, tying the game behind Adkison and Tyler Wulfert RBIs.

The visitors took the lead again in the fifth, scoring two runs on a Kaelen Culpepper double, before OSU responded for a third time by getting a Schubart RBI single to make the score 6-5.

Kansas State rallied for four runs in the seventh to take a 10-5 lead, but RBI singles from Adkison and Schubart in the bottom of the frame brought the Wildcats’ lead down to three.

Still trailing 10-7 with two outs in the ninth, OSU got a base hit from Adkison before Schubart blasted a two-run homer over the left-field wall to bring the tying run to the plate, but a strikeout ended the game.