Cowboys Drop Midweek Game At Oral Roberts

Tuesday, May 16

Tulsa, OK

6:30 PM

Oklahoma State University

24-25

Oral Roberts

37-14

Oklahoma State

Oral Roberts

Ryan Sluder

Photo by: Greg Bullard

May 16, 2017 | Cowboy Baseball

Box Score

TULSA – Oklahoma State's losing streak reached six Tuesday night as the Cowboys suffered an 11-7 setback to Oral Roberts at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 24-25 on the season. OSU has not won on ORU's home field since March 28, 1995, a streak of eight consecutive losses.

Ryan Sluder recorded a career-high four RBIs in the contest, while Garrett McCain and Ryan Cash collected two hits apiece for the Pokes. McCain's effort lifted his Big 12 Conference-best batting average to .393.

Freshman C.J. Varela took the loss on the mound. Making his third-career start, the right-hander allowed six runs on four hits in one inning of work. He also struck out two and walked a pair.

The Cowboys took the game's initial lead in their first at bat. Andrew Rosa led off the game with an infield single on a nine-pitch at-bat and after advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout, he scored on an RBI single by Garrett Benge.

That lead was short-lived, however, as in the bottom of the first, ORU drilled a pair of home runs off Varela. The first came off the bat of Matt Whatley, whose two-run shot put the Golden Eagles on top before a solo shot by Brent Williams two batters later extended the advantage to 3-1.

The second inning saw the home team bat around and put up six runs on five hits, including their third homer of the contest, to take a 9-1 lead.

OSU's offense got back on track in the third. Following back-to-back singles by Cash and McCain, a walk to Benge loaded the bases. That brought Sluder to the plate, and the senior crushed a grand slam to left field to make the score 9-5. The blast was Sluder's second round tripper of the season.

The Golden Eagles got one of the runs back in the bottom of the third before OSU cut its deficit to 10-7 in the fourth when a pair of runs scored on a throwing error by ORU pitcher Grant Glaze.

ORU managed only one run over the final five innings against the Cowboy pitching trio of Peyton Battenfield, Cole Hearrean and Jonathan Heasley, but OSU's offense would be shut out over that same span.

OSU concludes the regular season with the Bedlam Series, which opens Thursday night at Tulsa's ONEOK Field before shifting to Oklahoma City for the final two games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.