In a poetic ending to the Big 12 baseball season, the Oklahoma State Cowboys beat the Oklahoma Sooners 9-3 to win the conference tournament in OU’s final season in the league.
The bats were quiet early, with the only run in the first four innings coming from the Pokes in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Zach Ehrhard. Avery Ortiz made a 2-0 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly of his own, which kickstarted a three-run inning for the Cowboys. An RBI single by Lane Forsythe made it 3-0 and then Ehrhard scored later in the inning on a wild pitch and the Cowboys led 4-0 heading to the bottom half of the fifth inning.
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OU would cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the inning on a John Spikerman double and then a sacrifice fly by Braden Carmichael.
But moving to the seventh inning, OSU’s Nolan Schubart launched three-homer over the center field wall, driving in Carson Benge and Lane Forsythe. OU reliever Dylan Crooks was then replaced by Will Carsten, who got two straight outs to help the Sooners escape the top of the inning.
From there, it went from bad to worse for the Sooners. Oklahoma State’s Kollin Ritchie led off the eighth with a homer to right-center field before Ian Daugherty followed with a solo shot over the left field wall as the Cowboys took a 9-2 lead, which was more than enough insurance to seal the victory.
Coming into the match up, Oklahoma State was in its eighth overall Big 12 Championship finals berth, and with the win, capture its fourth tournament crown, adding to 2004, 2017 and 2019. The win gave the Cowboys their 35th conference title in school history.
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Now, both teams await their postseason match ups. The field of 64 teams that will compete for the 2024 NCAA college baseball championship will be announced at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, May 27 on ESPN2.
The 64 teams will be placed in 16 different four-team regions, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.
