Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
Baylor
Cowboys Drop Big 12 Opener
March 21, 2014 | Cowboy Baseball
March 21, 2014
WACO, Texas – Oklahoma State lost its Big Conference opener Friday night as the 20th-ranked Cowboys suffered a 4-1 defeat against Baylor in front of 3,115 fans at Baylor Ballpark.
Friday's loss snapped OSU's three-game winning streak as coach Josh Holliday's club fell to 15-7 on the season. The Cowboys have now lost nine-straight games against Baylor in Waco dating back to 2008.
OSU outhit the Bears in the loss by a 9-7 margin, getting two hits apiece from Aaron Cornell, Tanner Krietemeier and Zach Fish, but the Cowboys left 13 runners stranded on the base paths, including leaving the bases full in the ninth inning.
“We had some opportunities, and we were one big swing of the bat away from putting ourselves right in the game there in the eighth and ninth innings,” said Holliday, whose squad left runners on base in eight innings. “I'm proud of the kids for battling to get right on the verge there, but we came up a little short. You can't make mistakes on Friday night in an elite conference. We made some mistakes, and we paid for them. As a result, we ended up on the wrong side of the board.”
Jon Perrin, making just his second start of the season, suffered the first loss of his career. The Cowboys' junior right-hander worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits while striking out five.
“Jon Perrin gave us a chance to win – I was proud of the way he threw the ball,” Holliday said. “We can definitely build on that outing.”
But the Cowboys wouldn't have enough offense against Baylor starter Brad Kuntz. The junior southpaw recorded a career-high eight strikeouts and scattered eight hits in seven innings to improve to 4-0.
Baylor (12-9, 3-1) took an early lead in the bottom of the first despite not collecting a hit in the inning. Lawton Langford led off with a four-pitch walk, and after advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt, he took third on a grounder to shortstop. Langford later scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Menard to put the Bears up, 1-0.
The Cowboys would draw even in the third. After Cornell singled and stole second, Krietemeier delivered a clutch two-out RBI single to make the score 1-1. The RBI was Krietemeier's team-leading 20th of the season.
The 1-1 score did not last long, however, as the Bears rallied for two runs to go back on top in the bottom of the third. With runners on the corners and one out, Mitch Price ripped a grounder that glanced off the glove of a charging Donnie Walton, and Duncan Wendel followed that RBI hit with a sacrifice fly to put BU up by a 3-1 margin.
BU tallied its final score in the sixth, taking a 4-1 advantage with an unearned run.
Southpaw Alex Hackerott came on in relief of Perrin in the sixth and worked the final 2 1/3 innings for Cowboys, allowing just one hit and tying a career high with four strikeouts.
OSU finally got into the Baylor bullpen in the eighth, and in that inning, the Cowboys had runners at first and second with two outs before pinch hitter Saulyer Saxon struck out to end the threat.
In the ninth, Tim Arakawa opened the inning with a walk, and Cornell was hit by a pitch. After Josh Michalec retired the next two Cowboys, Zach Fish walked to load the bases. Pinch hitter Garrett Williams then worked a 2-2 count before grounding out to second base to end the game.
The two teams return to action Saturday at 2:05 p.m.
