Cowboys Claim Series Win At Top-Ranked TCU

Sunday, March 22

Fort Worth, Texas

2:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

16-7, 0

TCU

17-4, 0

Oklahoma State

TCU

March 22, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

March 22, 2015

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Oklahoma State rode the left arm of Michael Freeman and a big third inning at the plate to a 7-2 victory over top-ranked TCU Sunday at Lupton Stadium as the 19th-ranked Cowboys earned a series win over the Frogs.

Freeman was masterful as the senior southpaw tossed his first-career complete game, striking out nine - one shy of his career high - and allowing just one earned run in a 127-pitch effort.

The Cowboys, who improved to 16-7 and are 2-1 after their opening weekend of Big 12 Conference play, provided Freeman all the run support he needed with a two-out, six-run rally in the third inning.

"It's good to know that what I can do is working and that I can go a complete game, that my stuff is good enough to beat guys that are supposed to be the number one team in the nation," said Freeman, who improved to 4-0 on the season. "There's pressure in a rubber game, but you try and treat it like just another game and try not to let those outside thoughts have too much of an effect on you. You just play a pitch at a time and do what I know and let the guys work behind me, and they really did an awesome job.

"It's awesome to come out and win a series against a really good team. I think we proved a lot to people, and it's really great to have team wins like that."

In the game's pivotal third inning, TCU starter Alex Young, who entered the game with a 4-0 record and a 1.33 ERA, quickly retired OSU's first two hitters.

But a Gage Green single jump started what proved to be a huge two-out rally. Following Green's hit, Costello reached on an error, and Dustin Williams walked to load the bases. Up next, Corey Hassel ripped a double down the left field line that cleared the bases and gave OSU a 3-0 lead.

Hassel's double was the first of four-straight hits for the Cowboys. Jon Littell followed it with a single, and David Petrino then brought home OSU's fourth run with an infield single.

The Pokes weren't done as Jacob Chappell smacked a two-RBI double to left field that gave OSU a 6-0 lead and drove Young out of the game.

With the big lead, Freeman continued to fluster the TCU hitters as he allowed just two hits over the first six innings.

"It was an awesome day for Michael Freeman and our ballclub," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "(Freeman) pitched a beautiful ballgame and solidified the game early with some zeroes, which we hadn't been able to do the first couple of nights. And then with two outs in the third, our team put together one of those rallies that you look back on now and say `If you've done that once, you can do it again.' Walks, base hits, an error, then a couple of clutch doubles by Corey Hassel and Jacob Chappell, and the next thing you know we've got six runs on the board.

"Between Mike's start and that six-run inning, we gained control of the game and some momentum. And in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, (Freeman) really came at them and got some quick outs. He was in control pretty much from start to finish."

The Horned Frogs (17-4, 4-2) finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh, plating an unearned run on an RBI infield single by Nolan Brown.

Both teams scored their final runs in the eighth, with Donnie Walton picking up an RBI on his first hit of the season, a two-out single that made the score 7-1, before TCU pulled to within five in the bottom of the inning.

Along with Freeman, Hassel had a career day, tying a career-high with three hits while recording a career-best three RBIs as OSU began defense of its 2014 Big 12 title by winning its eighth consecutive league series.

"You go on the road and play an outstanding TCU team with as high-end pitching as you're going to face anywhere, and to win two-of-three is a great accomplishment, especially considering some of the elements we had to play through with the wet conditions most of the weekend," Holliday said. "I'm very proud of the kids. We answered the challenge today, and it's a good feeling as we get on the bus and head back home."

OSU returns to action Tuesday when the Cowboys host Wichita State at 6 p.m. at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.