Cowboy Baseball Continues Hot Streak, Secures Series vs. Arizona State

Oklahoma State could be finding its stride as the regular season ends.

OSU baseball won its matchup against Arizona State 9-6 on Friday at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater. After having a rough season, the Cowboys secured their third straight Big 12 series win on Friday, with the win giving them a 2-0 edge over the Sun Devils going into Saturday’s finale.

Trailing 4-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, the Cowboys began to take control. They scored four runs in the fifth to take the lead and padded their advantage with another three in the sixth and one in the seventh. OSU led 9-4 for most of the rest of the way before the Sun Devils punched in two runs in the ninth to get the final score a bit more respectable. 

Entering their final game of the regular season on Saturday, the Cowboys have a limited chance to move up in the Big 12 standings, but the confidence they’ve gained from their recent play could be much more important than any improvement in the standings. Of course, moving up in the standings would provide OSU with a generally more favorable matchup to begin the conference tournament, but OSU’s hopes of making the NCAA Tournament are dependent on the Cowboys running the table.

So, whether the Cowboys have an easier matchup in the first round isn’t exactly all that important. Sure, an easier opponent could mean OSU has a better path and could have a better chance to advance out of its early-round games.

However, OSU needs to beat the best in the conference when it matters most to keep its season going beyond the Big 12 Tournament. With that in mind, getting back-to-back wins against Arizona State to secure their third straight series win is a massive confidence booster going into the most important stretch of the season.

Arizona State is near the top of the Big 12 standings and was in the running for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament before OSU took a couple of games in Stillwater. Although there is no guarantee OSU could repeat this success against the Sun Devils or any other team in the conference tournament, simply getting there with some momentum could do wonders for Josh Holliday’s club.