Cowboys Open Series At Kansas With Win

Thursday, April 13

Lawrence, KS

6:00 PM

Oklahoma State University

20-13, 4-6

Kansas

15-18, 4-6

Oklahoma State

Kansas

Garrett McCain

Photo by: Greg Bullard

April 13, 2017 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Oklahoma State ran its conference winning streak to three Thursday night as the Cowboys knocked off Kansas, 11-6, in the series opener at Hoglund Ballpark.

With the win, OSU improved to 20-13 overall and 4-6 in Big 12 Conference play, while KU fell to 15-18 and is also 4-6 in the league.

OSU racked up 15 hits, all singles, and seven different Cowboys collected RBIs in the win. Garrett McCain led the attack with a 5-for-5, two-RBI effort, while Cade Cabbiness was 4-for-5 and drove in a run.

McCain's five hits were a career high, besting his previous high of three, and he became the first Cowboy since Tanner Krietemeier in 2014 to record five hits in a game. On his final at-bat of the night in the ninth inning, McCain was hit by a pitch.

Sophomore Joe Lienhard picked up the win on the mound in his first-career Big 12 start. The right-hander worked five innings, allowing six runs on 10 hits and striking out five.

OSU plated runs in each of the game's first six innings en route to the victory.

In the top of the first, Ryan Cash, who returned to the lineup after missing seven games with an injury, got things started with a single before Garrett Benge walked. Up next, McCain delivered an RBI single to left field to put the Cowboys up 1-0.

The Pokes doubled their lead in the second. This time it was Cameron Dobbs who picked up an RBI with a sacrifice bunt as he brought home fellow freshman Cabbiness, who opened the inning with a single. After OSU took a 3-0 lead in the third when Trevor Boone was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, KU managed its first run off Lienhard when Matt McLaughlin followed a pair of hits with an RBI groundout to make the score 3-1 after three.

But the Cowboys added to their lead by continuing their scoring trend in the fourth with the first of consecutive three-run frames. McCain continued his hot hitting with another RBI single, extending the OSU lead back to three runs. Three batters later, with the bases full, Cade Cabbiness brought home a run with an infield single while a throwing error on the play pushed the advantage to 6-1.

In the fifth, OSU scored three runs on a pair of hits. The Cowboys' first run came when Travis Wacker scored on a three-base throwing error before Benge picked up an RBI on a groundout and Colin Simpson drove in a run with a single to extend the lead to 9-2.

OSU's final runs came in the sixth on back-to-back RBIs by Wacker, who plated a run on a groundout, and Dobbs, who recorded a sacrifice fly.

The Jayhawks rallied for three runs in the sixth to cut their deficit to 11-6, but Jake Cowan came out of the bullpen to limit the damage before Carson Teel and Trey Cobb kept KU off the scoreboard over the final three innings to seal the win.

The two teams return to action Friday at 7 p.m. in a game scheduled to air on FS1.