Oklahoma State Sweeps Texas In Baseball, Move To Second Place In Big 12

The Oklahoma State baseball team made quite an impression with a three-game sweep of the Longhorns in Austin over the weekend. The Cowboys won both games of a doubleheader on Saturday and held on to win the series finale on Sunday.

Thomas Hatch was masterful in game one on Saturday, tossing his second consecutive shutout. In his last 18 IP, Hatch has struck out 16, given up 10 hits and only walked two hitters. With a 4-1 record and a conference-leading 1.52 ERA, Hatch is making a solid case to win Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.

J.R. Davis led the offensive charge, going 2-5 with two RBIs in a 3-0 win.

In game two Jensen Elliott got the nod, moving up from his usual Sunday spot. Elliott was not outstanding, allowing two runs in only five innings of work, but it was good enough for him to earn his sixth win of the season.

The Cowboys got two RBIs from Ryan Sluder who improved his batting average to .179 after a solid weekend. Donnie Walton went 2-4 on the game and drove in his 30th run of the season in the 6-3 victory.

In the series finale on Sunday, Trey Cobb failed to finish the fifth inning in yet another start, putting pressure on the bullpen which was used heavily on Saturday. After scoring three runs in the top of 6th thanks to a Collin Simpson double, the wheels fell off for the bullpen with a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. The OSU relievers could not find the strike zone and it took four pitchers to retire the side, but not before the Longhorns tallied three runs.

The Cowboys added four insurance runs in the eighth, two coming on an RBI-single from Corey Hassel. Tyler Buffett finished things up with a clean inning of relief to finish the sweep.

Recap a historic day for #okstate in Austin as Cowboys sweep Horns: https://t.co/pdFyTRthV9https://t.co/64WsuOu5mH

— Cowboy Baseball (@OSUBaseball) May 2, 2016

“That was exceptional,” said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. “The kids did a great job all three games. To play three games stuffed into a window of maybe 36 hours at the most was great effort, toughness – all the things you want to see in a group of kids, they showed us. I’m very proud of them.”

The Cowboys now have sole possession of second place in the Big 12 with two conference series’ remaining. Texas Tech still holds a 2.5- advantage in the standings and swept the season series over the Cowboys.

The Cowboys will play Prairie View A&M, Kansas and Oklahoma in the final three weekends of the season. With this favorable schedule and with the Cowboys’ RPI now at 22,, hosting a regional is not out of the question.