Cowboy Baseball Falls In Series Opener

Thursday, April 1

Stillwater, OK

6:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

16-7-1, 0

West Virginia

11-9, 0

West Virginia

Oklahoma State

Cade Cabbiness

April 01, 2021 | Cowboy Baseball

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STILLWATER – Oklahoma State had its four-game winning streak snapped Thursday night as the 11^th-ranked Cowboys dropped a 4-3 contest to West Virginia in the series opener at O'Brate Stadium.

With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 16-7-1 overall and 4-3 in Big 12 play, while WVU is now 11-9 and 3-1 in the conference.

OSU had opportunities late in the contest, but the Pokes left seven runners stranded on the bases over the final three innings.

Starter Bryce Osmond took the loss on the mound, falling to 2-2 on the season. The right-hander worked six innings and allowed four runs, three of them earned, on five hits; he struck out four and issued three walks.

Kale Davis and Brett Standlee came out of the OSU bullpen and kept WVU off the scoreboard over the final three frames, with Davis working 2 1/3 innings and striking out three.

Offensively, the Cowboys outhit the visitors by a 10-6 margin. Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Nolan McLean led the way with two hits apiece.

OSU took a first inning lead on Encarnacion-Strand's two-out RBI double down the left-field line, but the Mountaineers plated an unearned run on a throwing error to tie the score at 1-1 in the third.

WVU got the winning runs with one swing of the bat in the fourth as Mikey Kluska homered with two outs. The three-run shot to left field put the Mountaineers on top 4-1.

The Cowboys faced the three-run deficit until the seventh. After loading the bases with one out on a walk and two singles, back-to-back pinch-hit RBI singles by Justin Campbell and Max Hewitt cut the WVU lead to 4-3 before consecutive strikeouts ended the inning.

In the eighth, OSU once again loaded the bases with one out but this time failed to score after grounding into an inning-ending double play.

Down to its final out, OSU got a pinch hit triple from Jaxson Crull to put the tying run 90 feet away. Caeden Trenkle then walked to put Cowboys on the corners, but a strikeout ended the game.

The two teams return to action Friday at 6 p.m. before closing out the series Saturday at 1 p.m.