Cowboys rout OU, share Big 12 title

NORMAN – Oklahoma State clinched a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season championship with a 11-1 drubbing of Oklahoma Saturday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

With the win, the 10th-ranked Cowboys improved to 37-16 and finished Big 12 play with a 15-9 mark. OSU shares the conference championship with Texas and West Virginia.

OSU’s championship marks the 34th conference title in program history. It is the Cowboys’ second-ever regular season crown and fifth overall in the Big 12; they were also regular season champions in 2014 and won conference tournament trophies in 2004, 2017 and 2019.

OSU will be the No. 2 seed at next week’s Big 12 Baseball Championship in Arlington, Texas, and the Pokes will face Oklahoma in their opening round game Wednesday.

The Pokes also continued their dominance of OU under head coach Josh Holliday. OSU is now 32-12 against the Sooners in Holliday’s 11 seasons at the helm and has won eight of 10 Bedlam Series (no series in COVID-shortened 2020 season).

Nolan Schubart and Chase Adkison led the way offensively for the Cowboys. Schubart with 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and five RBIs, while Adkison had three hits, including a double and homer, and drove in three runs.

Ben Abram picked up the win against his former team to improve to 7-2 on the season. The right-hander allowed just one run on four hits in five innings. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.

Isaac Stebens came out of the bullpen in relief of Abram and shut out the Sooners over the next 3 1/3 innings, striking out five and allowing just two hits before Gabe Davis recorded the final two outs.

OSU jumped on the scoreboard early, opening the game with four consecutive singles. Adkison brought home the first run with a base hit, and an RBI groundout by Schubart made the score 2-0.

The Cowboys saw their lead cut in half in the second as Easton Carmichael delivered an RBI double to right field to plate John Spikerman with OU’s only run.

OSU answered in its next at bat, rallying with two outs. After a walk to Zach Ehrhard to open the inning, the next two Cowboys were retired. But Adkison smacked a double to put two runners in scoring position for Schubart, who ripped a two-RBI double to right to give the Pokes a 4-1 advantage.

In the sixth, the Cowboys tacked on two more runs, first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Nolan McLean before David Mendham brought home a run with a double to right field.

Leading 6-1, OSU built its lead in the seventh. After loading the bases with no outs, a double play brought home a run before Schubart stepped to the plate and smashed a no-doubt, two-run bomb to right field. The freshman’s 15th round tripper of the season pushed the Pokes’ advantage to 9-1.

OSU plated its final runs in the ninth on a two-run homer by Adkison, his seventh bomb of the season.