Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
13-7, 0
Kansas State
11-11, 0
Cowboy Baseball Opens Big 12 Play With Win
March 22, 2019 | Cowboy Baseball
Box Score (PDF)
Photo Gallery
Holliday postgame
STILLWATER – A six-run eighth inning propelled Oklahoma State to an 11-4 win in its Big 12 Conference opener Friday night at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
With the win, the Cowboys snapped a two-game losing skid and improved to 13-7 on the season. OSU took a one-run lead into the bottom of the eighth inning before the big rally put the game out of reach for the Wildcats, who fell to 11-11.
Jensen Elliott started and got the win to improve to 3-0 as the junior right-hander pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits; he struck out three and walked four.
Bryce Carter led OSU at the plate as he went 2-for-4 and posted a career-high four RBIs. Carter was one of five Cowboys with multiple hits in the contest, with Trevor Boone, Andrew Navigato, Carson McCusker and Christian Funk also collecting two hits apiece.
K-State jumped out to an early lead when Zack Kokoska hit a solo home run with two outs in the second inning, but OSU answered in the third when Boone laced an RBI single to left field to tie the game at 1-1.
OSU took its first lead in the fourth when Colin Simpson drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs, but another solo home run, this one by Chris Ceballos, saw the Wildcats tie the score in the sixth.
The score did not remain knotted long, however. In the bottom of the sixth, Carter stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases full of Cowboys and delivered a two-RBI single to left-center field to put OSU up 4-2 before an RBI single from McCusker pushed the lead to three.
KSU plated runs in the seventh and eighth innings to trim the OSU lead to 5-4 and threatened to add more in the eighth before Peyton Battenfield struck out Dylan Phillips to leave the tying run stranded on second base.
The Cowboys secured the win with an eighth inning that saw them get another two-RBI single from Carter as well as RBIs from Funk, Navigato, Cade Cabbiness and Hueston Morrill.
The two teams return to action Saturday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, with first pitch slated for 2:05 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Elliott, Jensen (3-0)
L: Passino, Jaxon (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Hughes, Thomas 1 ; Ausmus, Rainer 1
HR: Ceballos, Chris 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 1
RBI: Hughes, Thomas 1 ; Ceballos, Chris 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 1 ; Spurlin, Terrence 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Ceballos, Chris 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 1 ; Ausmus, Rainer 1
SB: Burrows, Blake 1
Batting:
2B: Navigato, Andrew 1 ; Funk, Christian 1
RBI: Morrill, Hueston 1 ; Navigato, Andrew 1 ; Simpson, Colin 1 ; Boone, Trevor 1 ; Carter, Bryce 4 ; McCusker, Carson 1 ; Funk, Christian 1 ; Cabbiness, Cade 1
SH: Cabbiness, Cade 1
SF: Funk, Christian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Navigato, Andrew 3 ; Simpson, Colin 2 ; Boone, Trevor 1 ; Carter, Bryce 1 ; McCusker, Carson 1 ; Funk, Christian 1 ; Cabbiness, Cade 1 ; Hewitt, Max 1
HBP: Simpson, Colin 1
