Cowboy Baseball Drops Series Opener At Baylor

Friday, May 11

Waco, TX

6:35 PM

Oklahoma State University

28-18-1, 15-4

Baylor

29-17, 10-9

Oklahoma State

Baylor

Matt Kroon

May 11, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

WACO, Texas – Oklahoma State had its seven-game winning streak in Big 12 play end Friday night as Baylor knocked off the 14^th-ranked Cowboys, 13-5, in the series opener at Baylor Ballpark.

With the loss, OSU dropped to 28-18-1 overall and 15-4 in conference play; the loss was the first in conference play since the Cowboys fell at West Virginia on April 14 in the second game of that weekend series.

Baylor used three four-run innings to extend its nation's best winning streak to 13 games as the Bears improved to 29-17 overall and 10-9 in the league.

Joe Lienhard entered the game with a 4-0 mark in Big 12 play but took the loss after the junior right-hander allowed eight runs on 11 hits in four innings of work.

Offensively, OSU struck out 10 times against BU starter Cody Bradford (6-4). Matt Kroon led the Cowboys with a 2-for-4 night at the plate that included a three-run home run, while Andrew Rosa also had a pair of hits and drove in a run.

"The story of the night was our inability to stop them from having big innings," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "We did not play a fundamentally sound game on the defensive side, and every time we made a mistake, it led to not one but usually several runs.

"It doesn't do a lot of good to pick it apart. Win or lose, you don't carry it over to the next day unless you make that mental decision to do so. And like I told the kids, we're not going to do that. We're going to come out tomorrow in game two of a series and feel bold and strong about our chances. That's the way you have to approach it."

The opening inning proved to be tell-tale. In its first at bat, OSU loaded the bases with just one out following double and two walks, but Christian Funk grounded into an inning-ending double play as the Cowboys failed to score.

BU would capitalize on its opportunities in the bottom of the first. The Bears led off the frame with a single, double and hit by pitch to load the bases before Andy Thomas brought home all three runners with a double. Thomas would later score on a sacrifice fly to give the home team a 4-0 lead after just one inning.

The Cowboys cut their deficit in half in with a two-out rally in the second. Carson McCusker got things started with a double, and Ryan Cash brought home OSU's first run of the game with a single up the middle. Up next, Rosa smashed a double off the center field wall to make the score 4-2.

The Bears held the two-run advantage until the fourth when Cole Haring led off the bottom of the inning with his fifth home run of the season, a line drive off the foul pole in left field to extend the lead to 5-2. BU then added three more runs when it tallied four consecutive two-out hits to take an 8-2 advantage.

Trailing 9-2 in the seventh, OSU made its final rally when Kroon blasted his eighth homer of the season, a three-run job to left-center field.

But the Bears responded with another four-run rally in the bottom of the frame to put the game away. BU finished the contest with 17 hits, tying for the most against OSU in a game this season.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 3:05 p.m.