Cowboy Baseball Blasts Jayhawks

Oklahoma State continued its winning ways Friday night as the No. 9 Cowboys opened their weekend series at Kansas with a 7-2 victory.

Friday, April 10th 2015, 11:44 pm

By: News 9


Oklahoma State continued its winning ways Friday night as the No. 9 Cowboys opened their weekend series at Kansas with a 7-2 victory at Hoglund Ballpark.

A four-run seventh inning propelled head coach Josh Holliday's ballclub to the win as the Cowboys improved to 24-9 overall and maintained their spot atop the Big 12 Conference standings with an 8-2 league mark.

Eight different Cowboys had a hit against KU (13-21, 1-6) as Jon Perrin picked up the win to move to 3-3. Trey Cobb worked the final 2 2/3 innings to earn his second save.

“It was a baseball game by our kids where there were a lot of positives,” Holliday said. “Our infield defense was exceptional. Donovan (Walton) was very good at shortstop, and Tim (Arakawa) was very good at second base – there were a couple of pivotal plays that they made that changed the game. Pitching and defense is a strong formula, and we had enough timely hitting as the game progressed.

“Overall, that's a good Friday night win for us. I assure you Kansas is a very, very competitive offensive ballclub. That was a big win, especially on the road.”

The first five innings of Friday's game were a pitching duel between Perrin and KU southpaw Ben Krauth as the contest went into the bottom of the fifth scoreless.

But KU broke up the shutout with two outs in the sixth when Blair Beck deposited an offering from Perrin over the wall in center field.

OSU would respond in a big way in its next at bat, however.

Corey Hassel led off the top of the seventh with a bunt single, and Bryan Case followed by reaching on an error. Up next, Dustin Williams laid down a sacrifice bunt, and a throwing error by KU catcher Michael Tinsley on the play brought home Hassel with the tying run.

The bunt parade would continue when Ryan Sluder laid down a perfect one for an RBI single to put the Cowboys up, 2-1, and a Jacob Chappell sacrifice put OSU runners on second and third with one out.

Following Chappell's bunt, Arakawa provided the big blow of the inning with a two-RBI single to center to give OSU a 4-1 advantage.

“It was an extremely well-pitched game by both starters,” Holliday said. “Ben Krauth was excellent – he pitched as good a five innings as we've seen anyone pitch all year. He really mixed his pitches well, he had an outstanding changeup and he was very difficult to figure out.

“I give our team a lot of credit. Those first six innings felt like they took an hour, and then we were able to slow the game down. They hit the home run and what a response by our ballclub to turn right back around and score four runs.”

KU cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI by Connor McKay before Cobb escaped further damage.

The Cowboys put the game away in the ninth when, with the bases loaded and two outs, Case delivered a bases clearing double into the left-center field gap to extend the OSU lead to 7-2.

“That was another signature piece of the game with Brian Case going ahead and doing what we all know you need to do and that is win a game rather than hold on,” Holliday said.

Hassel, Sluder and Walton each finished the contest with two hits, while Case's three RBIs tied a career high.

Perrin worked six innings and scattered seven hits while striking out six, while Cobb did not allow a hit and struck out a pair in his 2 2/3 scoreless frames.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 2 p.m.

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