OSU Falls To WVU; Goes 0-3 In Big 12 Tourney

Oklahoma State suffered its fourth-straight loss Saturday as West Virginia handed the 12th-ranked Cowboys a 6-5 setback in 10 innings at the Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

With the loss, which marks OSU's longest skid of the season, the Cowboys fell to 39-17 and will now await their NCAA Championship fate. Coach Josh Holliday's club is hopeful of receiving at-large bid to the tournament when the field of 64 is announced Monday at 11 a.m. (CST) on ESPNU.

WVU (33-26) erased a five-run deficit to hand the Cowboys the loss Saturday, and Jacob Rice's one-out single in the 10th brought home Bobby Boyd with the winning run as the Mountaineers' center fielder slid safely into home just ahead of the tag of OSU catcher Victor Romero, who took a strong throw from right fielder Zach Fish.

The Cowboys collected 10 hits and took advantage of five WVU errors as all five of their runs were unearned, but OSU left 10 runners stranded on the base paths, including two in both the seventh and eighth innings.

"Offensively, we were in position several times and put a few runs on the board and had more chances to add to it," Holliday said. "In the sixth inning, West Virginia put together one heck of a two-out rally and had a couple big swings of the bat so give them credit for making their own break and tying it up.

"We battled back and had opportunities throughout the final four innings to make a run back at them and were unable to. Tough ballgame."

OSU jumped out to an early lead on Randy McCurry's two-run home run in the top of the first inning, the shortstop's third round tripper of the season.

In the fourth, Aaron Cornell, who had doubled earlier in the inning, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on an error to make it 3-0, and the lead reached five in the sixth as Cornell once again scored on an error before a sacrifice fly by Victor Romero put OSU up, 5-0.

And through five innings, OSU starter Mark Robinette had been dominant, holding the Mountaineers to just one hit and at one point retiring 13 in a row.

That changed in the bottom of the sixth, however. Michael Constantini led off the inning with a walk, and following a two-out bunt single by Rice, Ryan Tuntland got WVU on the scoreboard with a two-RBI single.

Up next, Ryan McBroom mashed his 12th homer of the season to pull WVU to within one, and Brady Wilson promptly followed with a long ball of his own to tie the score at 5-5 before Kenton Bevacqua came out of the bullpen and got a foul out to end the inning.

Neither team would score over the next 3 ½ innings, but in the 10th, Boyd led off with an opposite field single off OSU closer Brendan McCurry. Following a sacrifice bunt, Rice delivered the walk-off hit on a 1-2 pitch to give WVU the win.