Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Fall To Northwestern In 10 Innings
March 02, 2008 | Cowboy Baseball
TAMPA, Fla. — Oklahoma State suffered its first loss of the season Saturday as Northwestern bested the Cowboys, 14-12, in 10 innings at Red McEwen Field.
With the loss, the 21st-ranked Cowboys fell to 6-1, while Northwestern improved to 3-2.
The game was tied at 10-10 going into the ninth inning, but the Wildcats took a two-run lead on an RBI groundout by Chad Noble and an RBI single by Aaron Newman.
However, down to its last out in the ninth, the Cowboys answered.
After Toby Davis led off the inning with a walk, Jordy Mercer and Matt Hague struck out. That brought Rebel Ridling to the plate, and the senior first baseman delivered, blasting a 1-1 pitch by Bo Schultz over the center field wall to tie the score at 12-12 and send the game into extra innings.
But the tie score did not last long as NU struck for the game-winning runs in the top of the tenth on a two-RBI single by Nate Roberts off Mercer.
Mercer suffered the loss for the Cowboys, surrendering two runs on two hits in his only inning of work to fall to 0-1 on the season.
OSU fell behind early in the contest as the Wildcats plated a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the third frame against Cowboy starter Matt Gardner.
The Cowboys would surge ahead with an eight-run rally in the third. Davis led off with an infield single, and back-to-back walks to Mercer and Matt Hague loaded the bases. Davis scored OSU's first run on a wild pitch, and Ridling then stepped to the plate and smashed a three-run home run to left-centerfield to tie the score at 4-4.
Not to be outdone in the Cowboys' big inning, Davis gave OSU an 8-4 lead on a grand slam to right-centerfield later in the frame. It was the first home run of Davis' OSU career.
Ridling, Davis and Donnie Webb collected 10 of OSU's 11 hits in the contest. Ridling finished the day 2-for-5 with two homers and five RBIs, while Davis was 4-for-5 and drove in four runs. Webb ended his day 4-for-4.
OSU closes out its stay in Tampa when the Cowboys face host South Florida Sunday at 12 p.m.
