Oklahoma State Baseball: Cowboys opening game with Texas State a thriller

The Oklahoma State baseball team moves to 3-2 on the season after defeating the Texas State Bobcats in the home opener tonight.

The no. 30 ranked Oklahoma State baseball team took the field at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium for the first time this season. The Cowboys lost in their opening series against Grand Canyon University, dropping two of the three games. Yet, they responded as well as possible against a team that was ranked last week in a 18-4 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe.

Tonight, they kicked off the home portion of their 2017 schedule against the Texas State Bobcats. Cowboy ace Tyler Buffett took the mound for his second start of the season. However, Buffett did not fair well, giving up five earned runs and earning a loss, in the season opener against GCU.

The Bobcats had mixed results in their first five games of the season. TSU entered tonight’s matchup with a 2-3 record. Their last contest was a 4-0 loss against the Baylor Bears.

OK State was able to continue the Bobcats losing streak against Big 12 teams tonight with a 10-7 victory at Allie P. The home opener was anything but boring, though. OK State carried the offensive momentum they built against ASU in the early innings against TSU. Yet, the pitching did not hold up in the middle innings.

Catcher Travis Wacker had another big night with the bat, hitting .333 tonight while also smacking three runs home. Third baseman Garrett Benge and outfielder Jon Littell also had big nights with five hits and four runs combined. Wacker, Benge, and Littell sparked the Cowboy offense to knock home eight runs in the first three innings, including a seven run bottom of the second.

Buffett had a rough fifth inning on the mound. He gave up at least five earned runs for the second start in a row. Hopefully, the Preseason All-American can get it together very soon.

However, despite giving up two unearned runs, reliever Cole Hearran pitched two 2/3 innings with only one hit allowed. The two runs given up while Hearran was on the mound were caused by the two OK State errors tonight.

Blake Battenfield notched his second save of the season, pitching 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball. However, he did give up three hits, giving Cowboy fans a good scare in the top of the ninth. However, Battenfield sealed the victory while also not giving up any earned runs in a game for the first time this season.

It’s a tremendous sign to see Battenfield bouncing back after boasting an ERA of 11.57 after the ASU game. But the Pokes are 3-0 when Battenfield takes the mound this season.

TSU brought the game as close as 8-7 at one point, making the fact that the Cowboys hung on that much more important. Losing tonight would have been a sour way to kick off the home schedule while killing any confidence left from the ASU win.

Wacker’s eighth inning single came in clutch, knocking home two runs, to help pad the lead for the junior Battenfield in the ninth. Especially with the bat, Wacker is an improvement over former catcher Collin Theroux. However, Theroux was known as a defensive catcher not providing too much offensively.

OK State carries their two game winning streak into tomorrow’s matchup with the Bobcats at 3 p.m. CT at Allie P. The Cowboys scored double digit runs the last two games. Impressive considering they scored seven in the first three games of the season.

Jensen Elliott takes the mound tomorrow after more than six shutout innings, and a win, in his first start this season. Carson Teel had a solid performance last weekend as well. He takes the mound in the final game of the series against the Bobcats on Sunday.

Next: Oklahoma State Lacrosse: Cowboys face pair of LSA foes from Texas

You can view the entire box score from tonight’s game here. You can view the entire 2017 OK State baseball schedule here.