Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State captured its third straight baseball series as the Cowboys knocked off Arizona State, 9-6, Friday night at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater to clinch its third-straight Big 12 conference series win.
With the victory, the Cowboys improved to 26-22 overall and 14-12 in Big 12 play, while ASU fell to 35-20 and 18-11 in the league. OSU will go for the series sweep Saturday, with first pitch for the finale scheduled for noon.
The Cowboys had a pivotal four-run fifth inning to take the lead and had big offensive contributions from Brayden Smith, who went 4-4 with a home run, Kollin Ritchie, who had three hits and three RBIs and Nolan Schubar,t who had a three-run homer.
Mario Pesca made his seventh start of the season and worked five innings, picking up the win to improve to 6-2. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits and struck out three.
Pesca gave up a run in the top of the first on a fielder’s choice but struck out Brandon Compton to strand a pair of Sun Devils in scoring position to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third inning, Smith deposited a ball into the Cowboy bullpen in left field to even the scoring at one.
ASU answered back, scoring three runs between the fourth and fifth innings, highlighted by an Isaiah Jackson homer, to take a 4-1 lead.
The Cowboy bats responded with a big inning in the fifth. Drew Culbertson led off with a walk, followed by a single by Smith, and one batter later, Schubart walked to load the bases. Ritchie then hit a two-out, two-run double to left field to put the Pokes within one. Up next, Ian Daugherty followed suit with a two-run double of his own to give OSU a 5-4 lead.
Drew Blake took over for Pesca in the sixth inning and worked a clean inning that included a pair of strikeouts.
In the bottom of the sixth, Schubart crushed a three-run home run to right field to push the Pokes’ lead to 8-4. The long ball was Schubart’s 16th of the season and 56th of his career, putting him into sole possession of fourth place in Oklahoma State history. The three RBIs also put Schubart over 50 on the season with 52.
After Blake’s second scoreless frame in the seventh inning, Ritchie blasted a ball out of the stadium for his ninth home run of the season to push the lead to five.
Following a leadoff double in the eighth, Matt Brown came out of the OSU bullpen and issued a walk before picking up a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to end the inning unscathed.
The Sun Devils made things interesting in the ninth. After three-straight singles to open the inning, back-to-back sacrifice flies made the score 9-6 before Brennan Phillips got Josiah Cromwick to strike out with a runner on second to end the game.
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