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Oklahoma State closes regular season with a series-clinching 7-5 victory over Arizona Saturday at O’Brate Stadium.
With the win, the 21st-ranked Cowboys improved to 36-19 overall and 18-12 in Big 12 play. OSU won six conference series on the season, including its last four. Arizona concluded its season 19-34 overall and 9-21 in league play.
Up next for OSU is the Big 12 Baseball Tournament in Surprise, Ariz. The Cowboys will be among the top five seeds and receive a double bye, playing Thursday with opponent and time to be determined.
Stormy Rhodes earned the win to improve to 4-2, tossing a career-high seven innings and matching his career high with six strikeouts while allowing five runs.
Mario Pesca notched his second save of the season, working a scoreless ninth to secure the series win.
A six-run fourth inning powered by three home runs gave OSU a lead it would not relinquish. Colin Brueggemann, Remo Indomenico and Aidan Meola each homered during the pivotal frame. Meola finished with four RBI, while Kollin Ritchie went 3-for-4.
Rhodes worked around a leadoff error in the first, and the Cowboys capitalized in the bottom half when Meola delivered a two-out RBI single to score Brock Thompson.
Arizona answered with a two-out rally in the second to tie the game, then lifted a pair of sacrifice flies in the third to grab a 3-1 lead. The Wildcats threatened again in the fourth with a leadoff double, but Rhodes worked out of the jam with two strikeouts.
The Cowboys answered with six runs fueled by three home runs. Brueggemann started the surge with a 437-foot blast — his 16th of the season. After Garrett Shull drew a walk, Indomenico launched the first home run of his career, a go-ahead shot that made it 4-3. Meola then stepped up with two runners aboard and crushed a three-run homer off the top of the scoreboard in left field to extend the lead to four.
Arizona cut it to 7-5 with a Dom Rodriguez two-run homer in the fifth.
Rhodes cruised through the sixth with his first 1-2-3 frame of the afternoon, then capped his outing in the seventh by inducing an inning-ending double play. Noah Wech took over in the eighth and, after surrendering a leadoff hit, retired the next three in order.
The Wildcats brought the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth, but Pesca got a pair of fly outs to end it.