New Rankings
The new College Baseball Nation Top 25 features two teams this week, down from three last week. The Oklahoma State Cowboys move up five spots to No. 15 after their sweep of Cincinnati in Stillwater this weekend. The West Virginia Mountaineers are making their first appearance in the Top 25 this season, checking in at No. 21 after they swept previous No. 15 ranked UCF in Morgantown over the weekend.
A Look Back at Week 6 in Big 12 Baseball
Cincinnati at No. 15 Oklahoma State
Cincinnati's Seth Logue took the mound to start the second inning on Friday night in Stillwater and he was outstanding against Oklahoma State. Logue tossed the next six innings without allowing a hit or a run and he added nine strikeouts to his line. The game was tied at four at the end of nine innings, making extras necessary. Cowboys reliever Robert Cranz, pitched the final four innings of the game without allowing a run, including the top of the 10th inning. Lane Forsythe launched drive off of the batter's eye in center field for a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th to make Oklahoma State 8-4 winners.
The Cowboys got a first inning grand slam by Aidan Meola to erase a 1-0 deficit on their way to a 12-5 series-clinching victory on Saturday. Carson Benge was 3-for-4 with two RBI and a walk, while Colin Brueggemann added a home run. Brian Holiday (3-2) earned the win, pitching six innings in his start after a really rough outing last weekend against Oklahoma.
Zach Ehrhard went 3-for-4 on Sunday afternoon with a home run and picked up his 50th hit of the season for Oklahoma State. Aidan Meola also had three hits and four RBI, including a home run. Kollin Ritchie, Ian Daugherty, and Colin Brueggemann also added home runs for the Cowboys. Benge pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for Oklahoma State to claim the 10-6 win and to complete the weekend sweep. This was the first Big 12 series sweep this season for Oklahoma State.
UCF at No. 21 West Virginia
A rain delay on Friday night caused the opening game of the weekend to start 90 minutes later than scheduled. Once things got underway, West Virginia's Kyle West led the way for the Mountaineers with three hits and four RBI, including his seventh home run this season. David Hagaman earned the save, his second of the season, with two scoreless innings in which he struck out five Knights batters, as West Virginia claimed game one, 7-6.
West Virginia got another complete game from left-hander Derek Clark to claim their home series with UCF by a Saturday final of 7-5. JJ Wetherholt, Reed Chumley, and Sam White all homered for West Virginia while Skylar King accounted for two of West Virginia's seven total hits. UCF reliever Tyler Nesbitt was solid out of the bullpen pitching the final two innings without allowing a run and just one hit. The complete game by Clark was his fourth straight, though in the second of those four games the game went to extras and Clark departed after nine innings with a 1-1 tie. Clark struck out a season-high 10 batters on Saturday.
UCF jumped out to a 4-0 in the first inning on Sunday, but West Virginia got three runs right back in the bottom half of the first. West Virginia trailed by four runs at two different points in the game, but the Mountaineers continued to fight back. West and Logan Sauve each drove in three runs and Wetherholt added a two-run home run for the Mountaineers.
After a scoreless 10th inning for both teams, West Virginia walked it off on a Chumley solo home run to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning, hammering a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall to complete the sweep with an 11-10 victory.
The weekend sweep propelled West Virginia into the College Baseball Nation Top 25. The sweep in Morgantown also dropped UCF out of the Top 25, where they had been a ranked team for the last two weeks.
Texas Tech at TCU
TJ Pompey was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI in a Red Raiders series-opening 7-1 win Friday in Ft. Worth. Ryan Free tossed five innings of one-run baseball while Jacob Rogers and Josh Sanders each tossed two scoreless innings out of the Red Raiders bullpen. The trio of Texas Tech arms allowed only five hits in the game. TCU had a base runner reach base in seven of the nine frames, but never sent more than four batters to the plate in an inning.
TCU came back on Saturday afternoon to claim a 4-2 victory and even the series. Horned Frogs right-hander Louis Rodriguez pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed just four hits, he retired 11 of the final 14 batters he faced. A Luke Boyers two-out single in the bottom of the 6th inning proved to be the game winner. Ben Abeldt (2-0) earned the win out of the TCU bullpen pitching 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Kole Klecker handled the 9th inning for the Horned Frogs and earned his first career save with a scoreless inning of work. Klecker struck out all three batters he faced in the 9th inning.
Boyers hit a home run and drove in three runs as part of a two-hit game in a 4-3 TCU win on Sunday to take the series against the Red Raiders. The Horned Frogs bullpen tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings to close out the game and the series.
The series loss in Ft. Worth dropped Texas Tech from the College Baseball Nation Top 25, where they were ranked for just one week.
Texas at Houston
Houston opened the series with a dominant 9-1 victory Friday night. Houston used two pitchers in the game, Owen Woodward and Cade Citelli, and they combined to two-hit the Longhorns and struck out 16 Texas batters. Houston’s Cary Arbolida homered twice to lead the Cougars offense. The win for Houston snapped an 11-game losing streak in Big 12 play.
Texas evened the series Saturday night edging out Houston 6-5. Dee Kennedy homered twice for the Longhorns, including a go-ahead solo blast in the top of the 9th inning which proved to be the game winner. Gage Boehm pitched two scoreless innings out of the Longhorns bullpen to close out the game and earn his third win of the season.
Houston looked poised to take the series on Sunday when they built a 7-2 after six innings. But Texas chipped away with one run in the seventh and two runs in the eighth before plating eight runs in the top of the 9th inning as the Cougars used four pitchers to get out of the frame. Texas hit three home runs in the ninth inning, back-to-back home runs by Peyton Powell and Jalin Flores preceded a Max Belyeu blast. Boehm pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth and Texas emerged as series winners with the 13-8 victory.
Baylor at BYU
Baylor won the opener in Provo on Thursday 9-2 behind another strong start from Mason Marriott who allowed both BYU runs over five innings. Enzo Apodaca and Cole Posey each had three hits and Daniel Altman drove in three runs to lead the Bears offense. Ethan Calder was great out the bullpen following Marriott with three scoreless innings.
BYU was one strike away from evening the series on Friday night leading 4-3 in the top of the 9th inning. An error with the bases loaded allowed the tying run to cross the plate and eventually sent the game into extra innings. The Bears scored four runs in the top of the 10th inning, the first two off of the bat of Tyriq Kemp proved to be enough for the 8-5 victory in 10 innings and the series win on the road. Calder entered the game in the bottom of the 10th to slam the door on a BYU comeback by getting the final out.
The Bears completed the road sweep by winning a slugfest 18-17 where the two teams combined for 39 base hits on Saturday afternoon. Cooper Vest led BYU by going 3-for-4 with seven RBI while Wesley Jordan led Baylor's offense with a 3-for-3 five RBI performance including a three-run home run in the first inning. Kemp also drove in four runs on three hits in a nice weekend outing for the Baylor shortstop. The two teams combined to use eleven pitchers in the game. Every pitcher allowed at least one earned run, except for BYU's Mason Olson who pitched three scoreless innings to finish the game.
The sweep by Baylor was its first in a Big 12 series, road series, or road Big 12 series since April 2019 at TCU.
Kansas State at Oklahoma
A nine-run second inning for the Sooners was the ballgame on Friday night as Oklahoma took opener 12-5 in Norman. Five RBI singles, a run-scoring error, and a Kendall Pettis two-run double contributed to the big inning. Meanwhile, on the mound Braden Davis (3-3) was excellent and he earned the win going 5 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run, to go with four hits and seven strikeouts.
Unlike Friday, where a big inning early in the game proved to be the difference, the Sooners used a big inning late in the game on Saturday to put the game away and take the series, winning 11-4. Jason Walk was 3-for-4 at the top of the Oklahoma order with a home run and run-scoring bunt single. Anthony Mackenzie and Michael Snyder also homered for the Sooners in a very balanced offensive attack by Oklahoma where eight of the nine batters in the lineup all had hits. Kyson Witherspoon (3-2) pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out eight Kansas State batters to earn the win.
Oklahoma walked off as winners on Sunday afternoon when a run-scoring single by catcher Scott Mudler in the bottom of the 9th inning gave the Sooners the series and the sweep. The hit and the RBI were Mudler's second of each in the game. Jaxon Willits (2-for-4) drove in five runs for the Sooners. Oklahoma's John Spikerman entered the game as a pinch runner, making his first appearance since a hand injury back on March 16. JJ Slack was great on the mound in the middle innings for the Wildcats. Slack threw three scoreless, hitless innings facing the minimum in two of the innings.
Kansas did not play a Big 12 opponent this weekend.
Weekly Awards
Big 12 Players of the Week
Player: Enzo Apodaca, Baylor, OF
Pitcher: Robert Cranz, Oklahoma State, RHP
Newcomer: John Nett, Kansas, OF
Quoted
“It's been fun trying to fight through the adversity.” - Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson during an ESPN+ interview on Thursday discussing the injuries and re-positioning of players on his team this season.
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