Cowboy Baseball Wins Opener At Iowa

Friday, May 4

Iowa City, IA

6:05 PM

Oklahoma State University

28-15-1

Iowa

26-16

Oklahoma State

Iowa

Peyton Battenfield

May 04, 2018 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Oklahoma State was a winner in its first- ever meeting with Iowa as the 12^th-ranked Cowboys topped the Hawkeyes, 7-6, in Friday night's series opener at Duane Banks Field.

With the win, OSU improved to 28-15-1 on the season, while Iowa drops to 26-16.

The Cowboys scored all of their runs in the first four innings as Trevor Boone and Colin Simpson each homered, and Michael Neustifter collected three RBIs.

OSU's bullpen was outstanding in securing the victory, keeping Iowa off the scoreboard over the final five innings. Peyton Battenfield recorded the win in relief as he tossed three shutout innings to improve to 2-1, and C.J. Varela picked up his third save as he closed out the final two frames.

"The story of the game was Peyton Battenfield," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "He came in when they were punching us right back in the gut and gets out of a jam and then continues on with two more excellent innings. And then C.J. (Varela) came on and was very efficient once again; he's learned how to command and calm the nerves and pitch late in the game.

"It's a quality win. Winning on Friday night on the road is not easy and certainly not against a team like Iowa who is very offensive and threw a very good starting pitcher."

OSU jumped out to an early lead as Boone, batting second in the lineup, continued his hot hitting and blasted a solo home run over the wall in straightaway center field. Boone's fifth homer of the season also extended his hitting streak to seven games.

The Cowboys used a five-run rally in the third to take control of the scoreboard. Andrew Rosa led off the inning with a double off the wall in center field, and after advancing to third on an infield single, he scored on an error. Later in the inning, OSU loaded the bases with one out, and Neustifter delivered an opposite-field triple to make the score 5-0. The Pokes would extend that lead to six on an RBI single by Carson McCusker, who was 3-for-3 in the contest.

With OSU leading 6-0, Iowa plated its first run off OSU starter Carson Teel in the third, but the southpaw stranded a pair of Hawkeyes in scoring position and the Pokes got the run back in their next at bat when Simpson crushed his 15^th homer of the season to right. In doing so, Simpson became the first Cowboy to hit more than 14 homers in a season since Rebel Ridling had 18 in 2008.

OSU saw its lead shrink again in the fourth. This time, Iowa struck for five runs on five hits, the big blow coming on a three-run homer by Tyler Cropley that made the score 7-6.

Battenfield came up big in the fifth. After Ryan Van Leeuwen relieved Teel and issued a walk and a hit-by-pitch to open the frame, the sophomore righty came on and got a fly out and an inning-ending double play to end the threat and keep the Cowboys' one-run lead intact.

Iowa left 10 runners stranded on base in the contest and brought the go-ahead run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth innings.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 2:05 p.m.