Cowboy Baseball Drops Series Rubber Game At Texas

Sunday, March 25

Austin, TX

1:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

11-10-1, 1-2

Texas

15-10, 5-1

Oklahoma State

Texas

Carson Teel

March 25, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

AUSTIN, Texas – Oklahoma State jumped out to an early lead but could not hold it as Texas claimed a series win with a 10-5 victory in Sunday's rubber game at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 11-10-1 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 Conference play. Texas is now 15-10 and has gone 5-1 in its first two league series.

Making his second start of the season, Carson Teel took the loss to fall to 3-1 on the season. The junior southpaw entered the game as the Big 12 leader with a 1.03 ERA but allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings of work; he struck out six and also walked three.

Offensively, Matt Kroon, Michael Neustifter and Ryan Cash had two hits apiece for the Cowboys, while Kroon added a pair of RBIs. Neustifter, Jake Taylor and Trevor Boone also drove in runs for OSU.

"(Teel) gave us a chance to win, there's no doubt about that. We let a few small-detail plays get the best of us – that's disappointing and I'll accept 100 percent responsibility for that," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "We were on the verge offensively a couple of times and didn't quite close out – we threw a couple jabs but didn't lay an uppercut when we had a chance."

OSU took the game's initial lead in the second inning. After pinch hitter Dylan Gardner drew a walk, Neustifter singled before Taylor stepped to the plate and ripped an RBI double into the left field corner. Up next, Boone collected his first RBI of the season to double the Cowboys' lead.

The Longhorns managed a run off Teel in the bottom of the inning to cut their deficit in half. UT loaded the bases with no outs before a strikeout, then plated a run on a sacrifice fly by Tate Shaw. Teel would escape further damage by getting an inning-ending strikeout to strand a pair of runners and keep the OSU lead at 2-1.

Turnabout was fair play in the top of the third as Kroon led off the inning with a triple before Colin Simpson walked and Jon Littell was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. The Cowboys would only plate one run, however, that coming on a sacrifice fly by Neustifter that gave the visitors a 3-1 advantage.

UT would erase its deficit and take its first lead with a two-out rally in the fifth. Kody Clemens got things started by driving in a run with a double, and Ryan Reynolds followed with an RBI single to tie the score at 3-3. Up next, Masen Hibbeler collected the Longhorns' third-straight RBI hit as his triple to right-center field put the home team on top by a 4-3 count.

The Longhorns took command against the OSU bullpen in the seventh, rallying for five runs on four hits against Brady Basso and Peyton Battenfield before Cole Hearrean came on and retired both batters he faced to get the Cowboys out of the inning.

"That was a really close, well played baseball game for six innings and from the seventh inning on, they separated," Holliday said. "We've got to grow and become three innings better. We're continuing to try and tweak it to make it work. The key is to get more kids involved playing to their peak and more guys throwing the ball where they can be trusted in high-caliber situations and not be so heavily reliant on the same kids.

"I saw some things the last three days here that were positive. There were better at-bats cumulatively by our team, not enough but better, against some good pitching."

OSU returns to action Tuesday night when they travel to Norman for a non-conference Bedlam showdown against Oklahoma. The Cowboys open Big 12 play at home Friday night against TCU at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.