Cowboys Fall In Season Opener

Friday, February 17

Phoenix, AZ

8:00 PM (CST)

Oklahoma State University

0-1

Grand Canyon

1-0

Oklahoma State

Grand Canyon

February 18, 2017 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

PHOENIX – Oklahoma State opened the 2017 season Friday night with a 6-1 loss to Grand Canyon in front of 2,357 fans at Brazell Stadium.

The setback was the first time in 12 meetings OSU has lost to the Lopes.

OSU Preseason All-American Tyler Buffett struggled in his first start, working four innings and allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out five.

Buffett was one of seven different pitchers used by the Cowboys in the contest, with four of those making their OSU debuts, and the group combined for 15 strikeouts.

OSU's offense never got on track as GCU starter Jake Wong held the Cowboys without a hit until a single by Andrew Rosa with two outs in the fifth inning. The Lopes' right-hander struck out seven in six innings of work to pick up the win.

The Lopes took an early lead in their first at bat. After back-to-back singles by Tom Lerouge and Garrison Schwartz and a wild pitch, an RBI groundout off the bat of Ian Evans gave the home team a 1-0 lead.

GCU's big inning came in the third when it rallied for three runs on three hits, with Evans again doing damage by delivering a two-RBI double into the right-center field gap. The Lopes' final run off Buffett came in the fourth on an RBI single by Austin Bull, one of his three hits in the game.

Following Buffett, OSU got several strong performances on the mound. The first came from freshman Parker Scott, who worked a perfect fifth frame and struck out two. Another southpaw, Cole Hearrean, came out of the bullpen into a bases loaded, no-out jam in the sixth and promptly emerged unscathed after two strikeouts and a fly out; he finished the game with five strikeouts in two scoreless innings.

The Cowboys' offense finally broke its drought in the ninth when they tallied three hits and avoided the shutout on Dustin Williams' two-out RBI double.

OSU is scheduled to return to action against the Lopes Saturday at 8 p.m. (CST).