Cowboys Drop Opener To K-State

Oklahoma State had its seven-game home winning streak snapped Friday night as Kansas State knocked off the 12th-ranked Cowboys, 4-2, in their Big 12 Conference series opener at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

Saturday, March 28th 2015, 1:03 am

By: News 9


Oklahoma State had its seven-game home winning streak snapped Friday night as Kansas State knocked off the 12th-ranked Cowboys, 4-2, in their Big 12 Conference series opener at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

OSU never led in the contest as head coach Josh Holliday's ballclub fell to 17-8 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, while K-State improved to 12-12 and picked up its first league win to move to 1-3.

The Cowboys managed just seven hits in the contest, four of those coming in the final three innings, and left seven runners stranded on base.

“Give K-State credit. They played very aggressive — they came out and played a good ballgame, they attacked us, they did a good job of mixing their pitches,” Holliday said. “We hit some balls hard but didn't put together enough consecutive hits to change the tone of the game… couldn't quite string together that one big hit or enough quality at-bats to change the score.

“That's a Friday night baseball game. If you don't play at a really high level, usually these things go the wrong way. We've got to bounce back and be a little bit sharper tomorrow.”

K-State wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as Shane Conlon delivered a solo home run just inside the right field foul pole in the top of the first inning off OSU right hander Jon Perrin. Conlon finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate and drove in three of the Wildcats' four runs.

The Cowboys would answer with a long ball of their own in the second, getting a solo shot from Conor Costello to tie the score at 1-1. The round tripper marked Costello's fourth of the season, tying him for the team lead.

The score wasn't knotted for long as Conlon collected a two-out, RBI single to put the Wildcats back on top by a 2-1 margin in the third.

Once again, OSU would answer, this time plating the tying run on a Garrett McCain RBI double in the bottom of the third.

But Perrin, who shut out the Wildcats in Manhattan last season, surrendered the game's final runs in the next two innings, as K-State went up 3-2 on a Max Brown single in the fourth before taking a 4-2 advantage in the fifth on another RBI single by Conlon.

Perrin would suffer the loss to fall to 2-3 on the season as he allowed four runs on six hits while striking out six in 4 1/3 innings before giving way to Trey Cobb in the fifth.

Cobb would keep the visitors off the scoreboard over the final 4 2/3 innings, striking out three and allowing four hits, but the Cowboy offense simply couldn't rally.

OSU scored both its runs off K-State starter Colton Kalmus, but the trio of Corey Fischer, Jordan Floyd and Bryce Ward kept the Cowboys off the scoreboard over the final five frames. Fischer earned the win with three innings of work to improve to 2-2, while Ward picked up his first-career save.

The Cowboys had several scoring opportunities late. With runners on first and second and two outs in the seventh, Ryan Sluder sent a single through the left side, but Corey Hassel was thrown out at home plate by KSU left fielder Danny Krause.

In the ninth, a walk to Hassel and a single by Donnie Walton brought the winning run to the plate with one out, but Jacob Chappell grounded into a game-ending double play.

“You've got to continue to grind and fight — you can't get frustrated,” Holliday said. “We know this isn't going to be easy. These games are always highly competitive. They're fighting and scratching and clawing to survive, and we're fighting and scratching and clawing to grow as a team. You have to match and meet that expectation every time out, and tonight they were a little bit better than us.

“It's a series though. (Saturday) is a chance to come out and hopefully even the series and play better baseball.”

The two teams return to action Saturday at 3 p.m.

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