ARLINGTON, Texas — No. 6 Oklahoma State defeated BYU 8-5 in the final game of a three-game series Saturday at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. Four runs on three hits in the fourth inning was the difference as the Cowboys captured the series 2-1.
“We had our chances today, but just couldn’t quite get it done,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “It was an unbelievable experience for our baseball program to play Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field. To get a win over the No. 6 team in the country and play well in the series was great for our team.”
BYU (8-5) took the lead early with a solo home run into the left-field seats by Hayden Leatham for a 1-0 lead through one inning.
OSU (9-6) scored two unearned runs in the second inning on two hits and two Cougar errors to jump ahead 2-1. BYU tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning with a Mitch McIntyre groundball to second base that scored Alex Sardina, who had singled to lead off the inning.
A four-run, fourth gave OSU a 6-2 lead, but BYU scratched out a run of its own in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 6-3.
The Cougars got two more back in the bottom of the sixth on a bases-loaded single up the middle by McIntyre. The two-out single scored Sardina, who had doubled down the left-field line for his third hit of the night, and Deming who was hit by a pitch. For McIntyre, it was his third hit of the season in as many attempts with bases load.
The Cowboys pushed the lead to 7-5 with one run on two hits in the seventh and picked up another run in the ninth for the final score of 8-5.
Notables
• Alex Sardina: 3-4, 2R, 2B
• Austin Deming: 2-2, 1R, 1RBI
• Mitch McIntyre 1-5, 3RBI
BYU will return to action versus rival Utah on Tuesday, March 15, at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City. The Cougars will then open West Coast Conference play against Portland in a three-game series at Joe Etzel Field, March 17-19.
The BYU-Utah game is scheduled for 6:00 pm MDT and will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Network, while the audio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Sports Network—107.9 FM, BYUCougars.com and BYU Cougars app.
Photos by Jay Hinton