Cowboy Baseball Completes Series Sweep Of UTRGV To Open Homestand

Sunday, February 23

STILLWATER, OK

12:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

5-2

UT Rio Grande Valley

2-5

UT Rio Grande Valley

Oklahoma State

Caeden Trenkle

Cowboy Baseball Completes Series Sweep Of UTRGV To Open Homestand

February 23, 2020 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)
Postgame interviews

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State swept its series against UT Rio Grande Valley with an 8-4 victory Sunday afternoon on the final opening weekend at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

The sweep improved the 24^th-ranked Cowboys to 5-2 on the year, while UTRGV fell to 2-5.

Senior C.J. Varela picked up his first win of the season with a scoreless inning of work out of the bullpen, while sophomore Brett Standlee recorded his first save of the year, pitching the final three innings and allowing just one run and striking out four.

Four Cowboys had multiple hits on the day, with Caeden Trenkle leading the way as the freshman went 2-for-2 with a triple, home run and four RBIs. Senior Max Hewitt continued his impressive weekend at the dish, adding two hits to finish 8-for-12 in the series.

Freshman righty Justin Campbell got the start on the bump for the Cowboys. In just his second appearance on the mound of his young career, Campbell recorded six strikeouts and allowed three runs in five innings of work.

After three scoreless innings, Campbell gave up three runs on four hits in the top of the fourth to give the Vaqueros an early lead. Campbell minimized the damage by forcing a flyout to end the inning and strand runners on second and third.

The Cowboys finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Trenkle delivered an opposite-field, two-run homer over the left-field wall with two outs to cut the OSU deficit to 3-2.

In his final inning, Campbell put another zero on the scoreboard with the help of his defense, which threw out a Vaquero runner trying to score from second to end the inning.

Brock Mathis got the bottom half of the fifth inning started with a single back up the middle for his first hit of the weekend, and Kaden Polcovich sent a double to left field to score Mathis and tie the game at 3-3 after five innings.

Varela came on in relief of Campbell to start the sixth. Varela's only blemish of his lone inning of work was a walk with one out, which was erased when Mathis gunned down the runner trying to steal second to end the frame.

Following an Alix Garcia leadoff double and Hewitt single in the bottom of the sixth, the Cowboys took their first lead of the afternoon when Garcia scored on a wild pitch. With the help of a free pass and a Carson McCusker sac bunt, the Cowboys extended the lead to 5-3 on a Mathis sacrifice fly.

Standlee took the mound in relief of Varela in the seventh inning and gave up a leadoff single but responded immediately with a strikeout. After a walk that put runners on first and second base with only one out, he forced a 1-4-3 double play to keep the Vaqueros off the board.

After back-to-back Garcia and Hewitt singles in the bottom of the seventh, Trenkle tripled down right field line to extend the Cowboy lead to 7-3. Another sac fly, this one by McCusker, gave OSU a five-run lead with two innings left to play.

After making quick work of the eighth inning, Standlee allowed a run in the ninth following a double and single, but a pop up to second base secured the series sweep of the Vaqueros.

OSU is back in Allie P. Reynolds Stadium Tuesday with the first in a two-game midweek series against Little Rock. Both contests are scheduled for a 4 p.m. first pitch.