OSU Baseball: Cowboys Complete Sweep of Texas

Oklahoma State completed a rare series sweep of Texas Sunday afternoon as the 11th-ranked Cowboys topped the No. 18 Longhorns, 8-3, at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

Sunday, April 5th 2015, 7:15 pm

By: News 9


Oklahoma State completed a rare series sweep of Texas Sunday afternoon as the 11th-ranked Cowboys topped the No. 18 Longhorns, 8-3, at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

With the win, OSU maintained its spot atop the Big 12 Conference standings with a 7-2 league record, while head coach Josh Holliday's ballclub improved to 22-9 overall.

The three-game sweep marked just the third time OSU has swept a regular-season series against Texas and first time since 2008 in Austin. The Cowboys also won all three games of the series in Stillwater in 1999.

“It was very important for sure,” Holliday said. “It was a grueling series in terms of competing against a team like Texas who is very good. You have that 18-inning game (Friday's opener) so your kids basically square off for 36 innings — that's a lot. It's mentally draining as much as anything.

“Sweeping Texas is not an easy thing to do. I'm very proud of our team… It was just a gritty effort by our kids. It wasn't necessarily perfect, but the competitive spirit was strong.”

Michael Freeman continued his stellar season on the mound Sunday as he improved to 6-0 with an eight-inning effort that saw the senior southpaw strike out seven and allow two runs on four hits.

Offensively, OSU was led by Dustin Williams, who went 2-for-4 at the plate and collected five RBIs, the most by a Cowboy in a game this season and a career high for the sophomore. Donnie Walton also had a season-high three hits for the Pokes.

Like each of its first two victories over the Longhorns, Sunday's was in come-from-behind fashion, giving the Cowboys eight comeback wins on the season.

OSU took a 1-0 lead in its first at bat on a fielder's choice RBI by Conor Costello, but the Longhorns (17-15, 5-4) went on top in the third on a two-out, two-RBI single by Ben Johnson.

However, the Cowboys were not down long as they answered in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.

Walton got things going in the third with the first of four consecutive singles by the Cowboys, the last of those coming off the bat of Williams and plating two runs to put OSU up, 3-2. The home team then pushed its lead to 4-2 when Corey Hassel picked up an RBI with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt.

The Cowboys put the game away with a four-run rally in the fourth, with each of the runs coming with two outs. An RBI single by Gage Green brought home the first run, and two batters later, Williams provided the big blow of the inning when, with the bases loaded, he delivered an opposite-field double off the wall in left field that cleared the bases and put OSU on top by an 8-2 margin.

That was plenty of support for Freeman, who has allowed just four earned runs in 46 innings in his last six starts.

Freeman, who was coming off back-to-back complete game wins, credited his defense with helping him record another big win.

“I didn't feel like I had the same stuff; it was a little colder day and sometimes it's just not there,” Freeman said. “But you always try and find a way to do something. Let the defense work, and they do. They make great plays every week.”

OSU will ride the momentum of sweeping Texas into a Tuesday showdown against Bedlam-rival Oklahoma at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. The non-conference matchup starts at 6 p.m.

“It means a lot,” said Walton of winning the series over UT. “Coming in, we're always looking for a sweep. It's momentum moving forward. If we can just keep playing like we're playing, things will work out.”

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