OSU Baseball Takes Series From Baylor

Oklahoma State clinched its fourth Big 12 Conference series win of the season Monday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, dropping the second game of the series, 2-1, in a contest resumed from Sunday before recording a 7-1 victory in the series finale.

With the win over Baylor, the No. 9 Cowboys remained atop the Big 12 standings, where they're tied with Oklahoma at 10-5 in league play, and improved to 26-13 overall.

After managing just four hits in the game two loss, head coach Josh Holliday's club had 14 in the decisive game, including three home runs, and Tyler Nurdin pitched a gem to lead the Cowboys to the win.

“We had a lot of guys do some good things in this series,” Holliday said. “It was a challenging weekend because of the way things played out (with the weather and schedule changes). There were definitely some positives for our team to build on — three great starting pitching outings, good relief pitching, we played really good defense for the most part and we had numerous chances to score runs and in two of the games were pretty good offensively.

“Series are tough and to win two out of three at home, you'll never turn away from that. I compliment the kids for hanging with it. It wasn't beautiful, but it was competitive and there are some things we'll get better at if we keep moving in the right direction.”

Gage Green got things moving in the right direction for the Cowboys in the finale when he led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run off the scoreboard in right-center field, a blast that marked Green's fourth round tripper of the season.

“We needed a little energy coming out — it's always tough to get your mind going when you come off a loss,” Green said. “I was just going up there trying to get on base, and I put a good swing on it.”

The Cowboys would plate runs in four consecutive at bats from the third through the sixth innings, though they never did record a big inning as they left 17 runners on base in the contest.

However, Nurdin stymied the Baylor bats throughout the contest.

The senior southpaw worked a season high 8 1/3 innings, besting his previous season high of 4 1/3 on Feb. 19 and marking his most since tossing a complete game vs. West Virginia on in 2013.

Nurdin racked up seven strikeouts, one shy of his career high, and allowed only six hits, including just four over the first eight innings.

“I felt good and really had my fastball command,” Nurdin said. “I've been working really hard to get back to where I was a couple of years ago and get on a roll. Going out there with the series on the line, I don't necessarily like it but I'm not scared of it. It helps me stay focused and helps me makes the pitches I need to.”

Added Green, who was behind the plate for Nurdin's effort, “He really showed command with every pitch, and his mound presence was unbelievable — it was definitely like the Tyler Nurdin we saw two years ago. It's good to see him going like that. He's been good all year but today was a fantastic job.”

Along with Green's home run, Nurdin got run support from solo homers by Ryan Sluder and Corey Hassel, who led the Cowboys with two RBIs.

BU (15-24, 5-10) managed its lone run in its final at bat. After loading the bases with one out following two singles and a walk, Nurdin made way for Trey Cobb out of the bullpen. The Bears plated a run on a fielder's choice before grounding into another fielder's choice to end the game.

With the win, Nurdin improved to 2-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.33.

“Tyler threw the ball great last weekend (at Kansas) and pitched out of the bullpen extremely well for about a month prior to that,” Holliday said. “He's been throwing the ball well, and that was his best start of the year for sure… It was definitely important, and I'll take that outing every chance I can get it for sure.”

OSU's clinching win came on the heels of a loss in which the Pokes simply struggled offensively.

The Cowboys brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings against BU reliever Brand Kuntz but couldn't get a clutch hit to bring home a run.

Michael Freeman, who worked six innings on Sunday, took the loss despite allowing just one earned run on four hits while striking out seven as the lefty fell to 6-2 on the year.

OSU closes out its current five-game homestand Tuesday night against 15th-ranked Dallas Baptist at Reynolds Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.