Big 12 Baseball: Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament Day 1 Recap

From that point on, it was the pitching side of things that drew the attention of many. Justis Reiser and Ashton Johnson combined for nine shutout innings, dominating the strike zone all morning to put the Sun Devils into difficult positions at the plate. BYU extended their lead in the 5th with a bases-loaded walk by Bryker Hurdsman. Ben Jacobs was credited with both earned runs in the loss against BYU. BYU won 2-0.

The Cougars will face the Arizona Wildcats Friday morning at 9:00 a.m.

Around midday, the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Texas Tech Red Raiders faced off in a game that had more offensive highlights that the tournament opener that morning. Cincinnati, one of the teams that's looking to solidify their argument for a NCAA Tournament bid. The Bearcats would eventually escape with the 6-5 win, but not after the Red Raiders game them a scare in the later innings.

Cincinnati jumped out to a 4-1 lead and seemed to be cruising to an easy victory against a Texas Tech team that had struggled all year. Robin Villeneuve gave Tim Tadlock's squad life with a solo-homerun in the 6th inning, but a throwing error that scored Derrick Pitts on a Kerrington Cross ground ball would give the Bearcats the 3-run lead they held earlier in the inning.

Nathan Taylor, the Cincinnati starter, was stellar in the 6-5 win as he logged 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 9 Ks. Kellen O'Connor earned the save for the Bearcats pitching the final two innings of the ballgame.

Next up on the docket was a battle between the Baylor Bears and a red hot Oklahoma State Cowboy team with something to prove. Sean Youngerman got the start on the mound for the Cowboys, while Ethan Calder got the start for the Bears.

Kollin Ritchie got the scoring started in the 2nd inning with a solo-homerun over the right field fence.

The Bears answered back with a 2-run 3rd inning courtesy of some Oklahoma State throwing errors and even extended their lead in the 5th with a sacrifice flyout by Tyriq Kemp to make it 3-1. It was in the 6th inning that the Cowboys tied the game on an RBI lineout by Colin Brueggermann as well as a throwing error by the Baylor defense that scored Ian Daugherty.

Oklahoma State would take the go-ahead lead in the 7th inning with another throwing error by the Baylor infield. After the 4-3 win, Oklahoma State will face the Kansas Jayhawks tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

In the night game, it was the Houston Cougars and the Kansas State Wildcats who battled it out for the opportunity to play the TCU Horned Frogs in the 2nd round of the tournament.

The Wildcats quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning courtesy of a 2 RBI single from Dee Kennedy. Paul Schmitz got the start for the Cougars, but the rough start had him exit the game early in this one. Houston responded to this adversity in a major way by striking for 5 runs in the 2nd inning due to an RBI double by Brandon Bishop and RBI singles by Malachi Lott and Kenneth Jimenez.

Connor McGinnis made matters worse for the Wildcats with a massive 2 RBI double down the right field line to make it 5-2. From then on, Houston never looked back only adding to their lead in the 5th and 7th inning.

The Cougar bullpen was extremely instrumental in the 9-2 win by dominating a Kansas State lineup that appeared to be seeing the ball well early in the game. Andres Perez, the first Cougar out of the bullpen, tossed 4.0 scoreless innings in relief allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks.

The Houston Cougars will face off with TCU tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Frogs won the series against Houston earlier in the season, but a major variable in the matchup on Thursday includes the fact that Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, Antoine Jean, will likely make an appearance against the Horned Frogs.

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