Cowboys Eliminated From Big 12 Tournament

Originally Published: May 21, 2010 9:50 PM CDT

Andrew Topps
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma State gave up four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and suffered a 6-5 loss to Baylor Friday.

The loss eliminates the Cowboys from Big 12 Baseball Championship contention as OSU fails to make the conference tourney for the second straight season. OSU falls to 29-24 overall and 8-17 in Big 12 play.

Brooks Pinckard came up big for the Bears with a two-out, two-RBI single in the bottom of the ninth which sealed OSU’s fate as Baylor (29-21, 10-13) clinched a berth in the league’s postseason tourney. Pinckard also pitched the final 1.1 innings in relief to earn the win on the mound.

Andrew Heaney was tagged the loss and dropped to 5-3 for the Cowboys as the freshman was charged with Baylor's final two runs, both of which were unearned.

OSU led 5-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Cowboy reliever Tyler Lyons hit Cal Towey with a pitch before balking and then issuing a walk to Gregg Glime. That brought Heaney out of the bullpen, but he surrendered a bloop single to Max Muncy to load the bases with no outs. An RBI single by Raynor Campbell made the score 5-3.

Bears' pinch hitter Chris Slater sent a ground ball to second baseman Davis Duren, who flipped the ball to shortstop Tom Belza covering second base. But the umpire ruled that Belza failed to catch the ball cleanly, resulting in an error. Each of the Bears' base runners were safe to make it a 5-4 game.

Heaney struck out the next two hitters, but on a 1-1 count, Pinckard sent a single into center field and Muncy scored the game-winning run as he slid in safely to beat Dusty Harvard’s throw to the plate.

OSU took the game’s early lead with a run in the top of the first. Duren led off the game with a double, and following a sacrifice bunt by Belza, an RBI groundout by Luis Uribe gave the Cowboys a 1-0 advantage.

The Bears tied the game in the third. Josh Ludy’s leadoff single was followed by a sac bunt, and Logan Vick then delivered a double to right field that tied the score at 1-1.

The score remained deadlocked until the seventh when Uribe put OSU top with a leadoff blast over the left-field wall for his eighth home run of the season and a 2-1 lead for the Cowboys. The homer was Uribe’s team-leading fifth in Big 12 play.

Two batters later, it was Mark Ginther going deep as his solo shot to right-center pushed OSU’s lead to 3-1. Ginther’s round tripper was his team-leading 12th of the season, and the second homer off BU starter Logan Verrett, who had allowed just one home run all year entering Friday’s contest.

The Bears answered OSU’s power surge with a long ball of their own in the bottom of the seventh, pulling to within 3-2 when Glime led off the frame with his sixth homer of the year to end OSU starter Brad Propst’s night on the mound.

Lyons came out of the Cowboy bullpen and promptly surrendered a single to Muncy. A sac bunt moved Muncy to second with just one out, but Lyons struck out Campbell and got Ludy to ground out to the threat.

OSU added to its lead in the eighth. The Cowboys opened the inning with three-straight singles to load the bases, and after a strikeout, Ginther delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Pokes a 4-2 lead.

The Cowboys tacked their final run in the ninth, getting an RBI single from Belza to push their lead to three.

Duren, Belza and Uribe each finished with two hits for the Cowboys, while Uribe and Ginther had collected two RBIs apiece.

The two teams are back in action at 3 p.m. Saturday.