Cowboy Baseball Wins Season-Opening Series

Sunday, February 17

Edinburg, TX

12:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

UT-Rio Grande Valley

Mitchell Stone

February 17, 2019 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
Holliday postgame

EDINBURG, Texas – Oklahoma State posted a series win on the opening weekend of the 2019 season as the 16^th-ranked Cowboys claimed a 3-1 victory over UT Rio Grande Valley in Sunday's rubber game at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.

The Cowboys (2-1) held on late as UTRGV brought the potential winning run to the plate in each of the final three innings. Mitchell Stone recorded the first win of his career, while Ben Leeper posted his first-career save.

Bryce Carter had three hits and an RBI in the win, while Carson McCusker homered; Dylan Gardner also picked up an RBI for the Pokes.

The game was a pitcher's duel between Stone and UTRGV starter Nick Hollas early on as both hurlers kept the contest scoreless through the first four innings.

But in the fifth, McCusker ended the shutout as he delivered an opposite-field home run to right field to put the Cowboys up 1-0. OSU extended its lead in the sixth when Carter doubled with two outs and Gardner brought him home with a single up the middle.

Stone, a southpaw who started two games as a freshman last season before suffering a foot injury and redshirting, took the 2-0 lead into the sixth, but with one out, he gave up a single to Conrado Diaz before hitting Coleman Grubbs with a pitch. That brought Peyton Battenfield out of the bullpen, and he escaped the jam by getting a strikeout and an inning-ending ground ball to secure the lead.

Stone's outing saw him tie a career-high with six strikeouts while allowing just two hits and a walk.

OSU added an insurance run in the seventh on a two-out RBI single from Carter, his team-leading fourth RBI of the series.

UTRGV (1-2) would finally get on the scoreboard in the seventh when pinch hitter Jacob Flores delivered an RBI single off Nate Peterson.

But the Cowboys escaped further damage as Joe Lienhard came on and, after giving up a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, induced a groundball out from Diaz to end the inning.

Leeper took the mound for OSU over the final two frames. In the eighth, the junior was promptly greeted with back-to-back hits to put two Vaqueros in scoring position with no outs. But the righty struck out the next three batters to emerge unscathed.

With OSU clinging to the 3-1 lead in the ninth, Leeper again pitched into and out of trouble. After hitting a batter and allowing a single with one out, Leeper got Diaz to ground into a game-ending double play to give the Cowboys the win.

OSU is scheduled to open its final season at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium Tuesday with the first of two midweek games against Little Rock. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m.