Cowboys' Win Streak Reaches Five

Friday, February 27

Auburn, Ala.

7:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

6-3

Western Illinois

0-4

Western Illinois

Oklahoma State

February 28, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 28, 2015

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. -- Oklahoma State rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to earn a come-from-behind, 4-3 win over Western Illinois Friday night at Plainsman Park.

With their fifth-straight victory, the 10th-ranked Cowboys improved to 6-3 on the season, while Western Illinois fell to 0-4.

Conor Costello and Tim Arakawa each had RBI hits in the pivotal seventh inning, while Jon Littell brought home what proved to be the winning run with an RBI groundout.

Along with the clutch hitting late in the game, the Cowboy bullpen once again came up big. Carson LaRue earned his first-career win in relief, while Koda Glover picked up his second save by retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth, two of them by strikeout.

"We're fortunate to win that game," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "That's the best Western Illinois team I've seen; we saw some teams back in the day that didn't possess the competitive athletes that squad right there has and for five innings, they were a much better baseball team than we were.

"But I'm proud of our team for finding a way to turn that game. It wasn't easy, we struggled. Our bullpen was excellent once again, and it's a luxury to have guys come out of the bullpen and give you a chance to come back a little bit."

OSU took the game's initial lead in its first at bat despite not recording a hit. Gage Green drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a throwing error by WIU third baseman Chris Tschida, and Arakawa brought him home with a sacrifice fly.

That lead lasted until the third as the Leathernecks plated the tying run against OSU starter Tyler Nurdin when Littell dropped a fly ball in left field, and WIU would take the lead in the following inning on an RBI single by Brent Turner.

WIU extended its lead in the top of the seventh. After back-to-back singles off Tyler Buffett put runners on first and third, the Leathernecks' Payton Jeffers executed a perfect squeeze bunt to push the lead to 3-1.

The Leathernecks appeared poised for more as they loaded the bases with one out looking to extend their lead, but LaRue came on and promptly recorded an inning-ending double play to get out of the jam.

Following that big moment, the Cowboys' offense came through in the bottom of the frame.

Garrett McCain got things started with a leadoff walk, and after stealing second, he scored on Costello's RBI single to make the score 3-2. Up next, Arakawa ripped a triple down the right field line to tie the score, and Littell followed that by bringing home the go-ahead fourth run on a groundout to shortstop.

LaRue fueled the momentum swing in the eighth as he retired WIU in order. In just his second-career outing, the freshman right-hander worked a perfect 1 2/3 innings and struck out one.

"It's great to see, but it doesn't surprise us because we saw enough of (LaRue) in the fall and early spring to know he's a darn good competitor and a fine pitcher," Holliday said. "What he brought out of the bullpen tonight was special. He pitched out of a jam and kept us in the ballgame."

OSU finished with eight hits in the contest as Kevin Bradley's 3-for-4 night led the way. Green also had a pair of hits for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys return to action Saturday when they take on host Auburn at 3 p.m.