Cowboy Baseball Wins Rain-Shortened Contest

Tuesday, February 27

Stillwater, OK

4:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

5-1

Little Rock

4-4

Little Rock

Oklahoma State

C.J. Varela

February 27, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
Photo Gallery

STILLWATER – Oklahoma State took the first game of its midweek series against Little Rock, 9-2, in a game halted after six innings due to rain Tuesday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

With the win, the Cowboys extended their win streak to four games, improving to 5-1 on the season. Little Rock fell to 4-4.

Sophomore right-hander C.J. Varela earned the win, tossing five innings and striking out a career-high six in the process. Offensively, Jon Littell collected two RBIs and was one of five Cowboys to drive in runs, while Andrew Rosa and Matt Kroon each scored twice and were among seven Pokes to cross home plate in the victory.

Little Rock got on the board first thanks to a solo home run to left-center field by Nick Perez in the second inning. However, the Trojans' lead wouldn't last long as the Cowboys went on top in the bottom half of the inning and never looked back.

Reynolds Stadium continued to be kind to Kroon, who singled up the middle to start things off for the Cowboys in the bottom of the second. In three home games so far, the junior third baseman is 4-for-8 with a home run, four runs and five RBIs.

In the same inning, Christian Funk walked before Littell grounded out to first to bring home Kroon and tie things up at 1-1. Daniel DeSimone later scored Funk with a single to right field to give OSU a 2-1 lead.

The Cowboys tacked on four more runs in the third inning. OSU had the bases loaded with no outs when Little Rock pitcher Justin Garcia walked Littell, giving him his second RBI of the day.

Cade Cabbiness then reached on a fielder's choice to bring home Colin Simpson, and a throwing error on the same play by Little Rock shortstop Matt Merino brought home Kroon to extend OSU's lead to 5-1. Cabbiness later stole third and scored on a throwing error to extend the Pokes' advantage to five.

In the fourth, Simpson followed a triple by Rosa with a sacrifice fly to make the score 7-1.

Rosa continued to impress at the plate, going 1-for-2 and also getting hit by a pitch twice to put his batting average at .533 on the young season. The senior also made his first-career start in center field and recorded two putouts.

"Andrew's a good athlete," said OSU head coach Josh Holiday. "He's a kid that's in his fifth year here, he's done a little bit of everything. It's a different look for him in center field, but we have some flexibility and versatility built into our team."

Following Varela on the hill, freshman southpaw Noah Sifrit made his debut for the Cowboys, working a perfect sixth inning and recording a strikeout.

After giving up a run in the top of the fifth, the Cowboys added to their lead for the last time in the bottom of the sixth when Kroon took a bases-loaded walk before Ryan Cash scored on a passed ball to provide the final 9-2 score.

The two teams will conclude the series Wednesday at 4 p.m.