Photo - Oklahoma State Athletics
Coming into Friday night in the Big 12, the biggest storyline was already the Texas/Oklahoma State series and that was before we knew that the teams would play two games worth of innings in their series opener, a 6-3 OSU win.
Texas led the game 3-2 going to the bottom of the ninth inning, but Connor Mayes put two guys on with walks and the Cowboys’ Conor Costello came up with a clutch single to score the tying run. From that point on, there wouldn’t be another run for a long time- not for nine more innings, in fact.
In the late innings and in extras, OSU got great relief work from a litany of relievers, including Carson LaRue (3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R), Kyle Bagnell (3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K), and Corey Hassel (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K). The Longhorns got great relief work of their own from the likes of Travis Duke (2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K) and Ty Marlow (4.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 K).
The bottom of the 18th started off innocently enough. Jon Malmin got Conor Costello to fly out, and after a walk to Gage Green, Donnie Walton flew out for the second out. After Green stole second, Andy McGuire came in to relieve Malmin, and that’s when things got hairy. Hunter Hagler was hit by a pitch, and Corey Hassel followed that up with the big blow, a walk-off three-run homer.
The win for OSU let their defense off the hook, as two of the three Texas runs were unearned.
Texas Tech Evens Series with TCU
The Red Raiders got a much-needed 5-1 win to even their series with TCU.
Tech starter Cameron Smith was outstanding in throwing a five-hit, one-run complete game with two walks and six strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Raiders offense was able to get to TCU’s Preston Morrison for seven hits and five runs (four earned) in 4.1 innings of work. Offensively, Eric Gutierrez (2-for-3) and Orlando Garcia (3-for-4, 2 RBI) had big days.
For TCU, of concern more than just one loss is the health of reliever Ryan Burnett. He was removed from the game with an apparent injury after having thrown just 1.1 innings. The timing of that is certainly eerie, as Burnett was removed from the second game of the series with Texas Tech last year and later found out that he was going to have to miss the rest of the season. Hopefully this was more of just a precaution.
Oklahoma, West Virginia Grab Wins
The Sooners captured a 6-3 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in large part thanks to the work of starting pitcher Alec Hansen (6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 9 K), who did an admirable job working around the trouble caused by control issues. The OU offense was led by Kolbey Carpenter, who enjoyed a 3-for-4 day.
KU wasn’t so fortunate when it comes to the performance of their starter, Blake Weiman (6.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K), and the offense just never was able to overcome the early deficit. They did, however, get a 3-for-3 day from second baseman Colby Wright.
The Mountaineers came away with a 5-3 win over the Kansas State Wildcats behind yeoman’s work from starting pitcher Ross Vance (CG, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER). The WVU offense got to KSU starter Brandon Courville for four runs in his 3.1 innings of work and got two hit days from Taylor Munden and Kyle Davis, the latter of whom also had two RBI.
With just three hits on the day, there wasn’t a lot going on offensively for KSU, but shortstop Tyler Wolfe managed to draw three walks.
Texas State Drops Baylor
There were a lot of great pitching performances in the Big 12 on Friday night, but the best performance might have come from Texas State’s Scott Grist against a Big 12 team, Baylor. He threw a two-hit shutout with three walks and seven strikeouts on 115 pitches.He really cruised as the game wore on, as both of Baylor’s hits, and one of their three walks, came in the first two innings.
The Bears’ best chance to score was in the first inning when Logan Brown led off with a double and Aaron Dodson walked with two outs, but they were unable to convert.
