Cowboys Beat Texas Tech For Series Win

Sunday, April 26

Lubbock, Texas

2:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

29-14, 0

Texas Tech

27-17, 0

Oklahoma State

Texas Tech

April 26, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Oklahoma State captured its fifth Big 12 Conference series win of the season Sunday with a 6-3 win over 18th-ranked Texas Tech in the series rubber game at Rip Griffin Park.

With the win, the No. 9 Cowboys moved back into first place in the Big 12 standings with a 12-6 league mark while they improved to 29-14 overall.

"That was a gut check," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "This was a challenging trip that started for us with our bus being broken down on the side of the highway for five hours on Thursday night, and it continued Friday when we didn't play very well and lost the first game of the series.

"Our team was staring at a pretty stout challenge working uphill, and they answered that challenge. I could not be more proud of how competitive we were collectively, player-to-player, staff, the whole group. We came out Saturday and Sunday with a very strong resolve to play better and more representative of the spirit of competition which Big 12 baseball demands.

"My hat's off to the kids for the effort and toughness they displayed against a very tough Texas Tech team. It's hard to go to Lubbock against a great team, great fans and challenging elements and win a series, and our kids did it."

On Sunday, OSU got home runs from Ryan Sluder and Gage Green to aid a Cowboy bullpen that saw five relievers allow just two runs over the final eight innings to secure the victory.

Texas Tech (27-17, 10-8) jumped out to an early lead against OSU starter Tyler Nurdin, but the Cowboys' senior southpaw was able to limit the damage.

The Red Raiders loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first following two singles and a walk, and the home team took a 1-0 lead when Nurdin plunked Tyler Neslony with a pitch. However, a double play and a strikeout kept TTU from adding to its lead.

Holliday's ballclub answered in the top of the second. Tim Arakawa was hit by a pitch to open the inning, and back-to-back walks to Sluder and Dustin Williams loaded the bases. Up next, Bryan Case delivered a game-tying RBI single, and two batters later, Green collected an RBI on a fielder's choice to give the Cowboys' a 2-1 advantage.

In the third, Texas Tech would tie the game when Neslony smacked a solo home run off OSU reliever Carson LaRue, but the deadlock would not last long.

The fourth inning saw an OSU power surge as the Cowboys took control of the scoreboard.

Sluder got things started with a leadoff home run, a mammoth blast that stayed just inside the left-field foul pole and gave OSU a 3-2 edge. A two-out rally saw the Cowboys increase their lead as following a single by Jacob Chappell, Green crushed a Matt Withrow offering into the TTU bullpen in right field for his fifth round tripper of the season.

The Red Raiders plated their final run in the fifth, but OSU answered in its next at bat to double its lead when Green tied his career-high with his fourth RBI after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to put the Cowboys up, 6-3.

Over the final three innings, TTU threatened to cut into its deficit, but the Red Raiders left runners stranded in each frame.

In the eighth, the home team had runners on second and third and one out, but Trey Cobb got out of the jam by getting a foul out and a groundout to end the inning.

The ninth would get even more interesting for the Cowboys and closer Koda Glover. After retiring the first batter he faced, Glover gave up a single and a walk. An infield fly recorded the second out, but a single by Neslony loaded the bases and brought the winning run to the plate in the form of Eric Gutierrez.

But Glover got Gutierrez to ground to Arakawa, who flipped to Donnie Walton at second base to get the final out and seal the OSU win.

LaRue earned the win to improve to 2-0 as the freshman right-hander worked four innings and recorded four strikeouts, both marking career highs, while Glover picked up his fifth save of the season and first since March 17.OSU returns to action Tuesday at 6 p.m. when the Cowboys host Arkansas-Little Rock at Reynolds Stadium.