Holiday, OSU even TCU series; WV going for twinbill sweep at OU

STILLWATER – Brian Holiday threw a complete game to lead Oklahoma State to a 6-2 win over No. 18 TCU Saturday night at O’Brate Stadium.

With the win, OSU improved to 14-9 and 2-3 in Big 12 play, while TCU fell to 17-6 and 2-6 in the league.

Offensively, Aidan Meola went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Kollin Ritchie homered and drove in three runs.

Holiday improved to 2-1 as he struck out a career-high 14 while allowing just two runs on four hits. The junior right-hander became the first OSU pitcher to throw a complete game since Justin Campbell against Kansas in 2022.

It also marked the second consecutive game Holiday has recorded double digits in strikeouts as he had 11 last week against UCF.

The Cowboys got off to a hot start in the first. Carson Benge delivered a double for OSU’s first hit, and two batters later, Meola brought him home with a single. Ritchie followed with a three-run home run to left-center field to put the Pokes up 4-0. The homer was Ritchie’s fourth of the season.

Holiday held TCU hitless over the first six innings before a Logan Maxwell infield single to open the seventh broke up the no-no. Later in the frame, Anthony Silve brought home the Frogs’ first run with a two-out RBI double.

The Frogs cut their deficit in half in the eighth, getting a pair of singles and an RBI groundout, but OSU added two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, getting a pinch-hit RBI single from Zach Ehrhard before Benge drew a bases loaded walk to make the score 6-2.

The Cowboys dropped dropped the series opener against TCU Friday night as the 18th-ranked Horned Frogs picked up a 1-0 win.

Sam Garcia took the loss on the mound for the Cowboys to fall to 2-3 despite allowing just one unearned run in seven innings. The southpaw struck out nine and allowed only two hits.

Robert Cranz took over on the mound in the eighth anworked two shutout innings, striking out three and not giving up a hit.

Oklahoma native Payton Tolle recorded a shutout for TCU, striking out 15 and allowing five hits, as the lefty from Mustang improved to 2-1.

Two OSU errors in the second inning gave the Horned Frogs the only run Tolle needed.

Sooners, WV fighting for series win

NORMAN—Oklahoma’s baseball team earned an easy 13-0 win thanks to a no-hitter Friday in the series opener with West Virginia but the Mountaineers ruined Saturday with a 9-5 win in the first game of a doubleheader and the visitors were leading the night-cap, 8-3, in the ninth inning at press time.

In Friday’s opener, juniors Braden Davis and Reid Hensley pitched a combined no-hitter, totaling 15 strikeouts, as the Sooners shut out West Virginia, 13-0.

Davis (2-1) struck out a career-high 12 batters over 7.0 innings, allowing only two walks, while Hensley tossed the final two frames, striking out three and walking one. The 15 total strikeouts tied a season high for the OU pitching staff.

Not outshone by the mound performance, Oklahoma’s bats were rolling from the get-go. The Sooners (14-7, 7-0 Big 12) scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on a rocket double by first baseman Michael Snyder, then poured on 12 runs from the third through fifth innings. Snyder went 2 for 3 and drove in three runs and left fielder Kendall Pettis notched four RBIs, including a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning.

This was the second no-hitter recorded in Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson’s tenure.

“Braden was executing pitches,” Johnson said. “When he gets to where he can execute pitches and keep them off bay and off balance, we’re a good club. The offense helped, scoring those runs and giving (him) a bit of an easier time. You don’t have to be perfect so much. He kind of fed off their aggression at times, but they’re good and he executed pitches. Reid came in and did the job.”