Cowboys fighting to make Big 12 finals

ARLINGTON, Texas – Oklahoma State extended its run at the Big 12 Baseball Championship with an 8-1 win over Texas Tech Saturday at Globe Life Field.

The 12th-ranked Cowboys improved to 40-17 win the win and were playing the Red Raiders again Saturday night with a berth in Sunday’s tourney title game on the line.

Brennan Phillips had a career day on the mound to lead the Cowboys. The freshman southpaw tossed a career-high six innings and allowed just one run on four hits while racking up a career-best seven strikeouts. With the win, he moved to 2-1 on the season.

Bayden Root followed Phillips and was also outstanding as he worked three shutout innings for his first-career save. The right-hander struck out three and allowed just one hit.

Tyler Wulfert led the OSU offense with a 2-for-4, three-RBI outing, while Nolan Schubart also had two hits and drove in a pair of runs.

OSU struck first with a two-out rally in the second. Colin Brueggemann got things started with an opposite-field double, and David Mendham followed suit to put the Cowboys up 1-0. Up next, Marcus Brown brought home a run with a single to push the lead to two.

The Pokes added to their lead in the third. After a walk, single and wild pitch, Schubart plated two runs with a single, and Wulfert followed with an RBI double to the right-center field gap to make the score 5-0. The lead reached six when Wulfert later scored on an error.

OSU continued to light up the scoreboard in the fourth, and once again it was Wulfert doing damage as his two-RBI single pushed the lead to 8-0.

The Red Raiders finally got to Phillips in the fifth as Hudson White led off the inning with his 10th home run of the season, but that was all they would get as the next three batters went down in order.

OSU decks Sooners

The Cowboys’ run through the Big 12 Tournament bracket included a rematch with Oklahoma and Friday and the Sooners were eliminated as the Pokes earned and 8-3 victory to make the semifinals against Tech.

Friday’s win over OU moved OSU to 4-2 against its Bedlam rivals this season, while head coach Josh Holliday is now 33-13 against the Sooners in his 11 seasons at the helm.

Ben Abram picked up a win against his former team for the second time this season as the right-hander allowed just one run in six innings and struck out three. He improved to 8-2 on the year, with his eight wins leading the team.

David Mendham sparked the Cowboys at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and tying a career high with five RBIs, while Roc Riggio also drove in a pair of runs.

OSU took control of the scoreboard in the second. With two runners on following a walk and a single, Mendham smacked an opposite-field home run to left to get the scoring started. The blast was Mendham’s 14th homer of the season.

The Pokes weren’t done. Following a hit by pitch and a walk, Riggio stepped to the plate and ripped an RBI single into center field, and up next, Carson Benge made the score 5-0 with a sacrifice fly.

Abram kept the Sooners off the board until the fifth, getting some stellar defense along the way that included Benge making a leaping catch against the wall in right field to rob an extra-base hit and save a run.

In the fifth, the Sooners loaded the bases before a hit by pitch cut the OSU lead to 5-1. But Abram escaped further damage when he started a 1-2-3 inning-ending double play to keep the four-run advantage intact.

OSU pushed its lead back to five on a sacrifice fly by Riggio in the sixth. But the Sooners answered in their next at bat with two runs to cut their deficit in half before Bayden Root struck out two OU batters to strand a pair of runners in scoring position.

The Cowboys added to their lead in the bottom of the inning, and once again, it was Mendham with the big hit as he slapped a two-out, two-RBI single to center field to make the score 8-3.

Gabe Davis tossed two shutout innings to seal the win for the Cowboys.