OSU Baseball Falls To Kansas

Oklahoma State had its five-game winning streak snapped Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark as Kansas defeated the No. 9 Cowboys, 3-2.

With the loss, OSU fell to 24-10 overall and is now 8-3 in Big 12 Conference play. The Cowboys will play for their 11th-straight Big 12 series win in Sunday's finale, which is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

Saturday's loss saw the Cowboys commit three costly errors leading to three unearned runs and leave 10 runners stranded on the bases as they lost to KU (14-21, 2-6) for the first time since 2013.

“In the end, we made a few too many mistakes and when you make mistakes pitch-to-pitch across the entire nine innings in a one-run game, you can look back and point to a couple of different instances that cost you,” said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. “In the end, we've got to play better as a team. Our collective mindset from pitch number one on as a group, in all phases of the game – pitching, defense, hitting, baserunning, whatever – has to be better.

“When you make those mistakes against a team that's playing hard and playing at home and has a lot to play for, they're going to match you every single pitch. That was the story today and give Kansas credit. We can play better, and we will play better.”

The Jayhawks took advantage of some shaky OSU defense in the first three innings to take a lead they would never surrender against Cowboy southpaw Michael Freeman, who suffered the loss in his first Saturday start of the season to fall to 6-1 on the year.

The first KU run came in the second when, following back-to-back walks, Donnie Walton booted a ground ball that potentially would have produced an inning-ending double play. However, the error allowed Blair Beck to score and give the Jayhawks a 1-0 advantage.

The next inning saw two more unearned runs cross the plate for the home team as a two-out, two-RBI double by Beck pushed the KU lead to 3-0. A standout play by Gage Green in left field saved OSU from falling behind by four runs as Green fired a perfect strike to the plate to nail Beck trying to score on a single to end the inning.

OSU had early scoring opportunities against KU starter Drew Morovick, but the right-hander pitched out of numerous jams as the Cowboys left two runners on base in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

“(Morovick) pitched a nice game and kept us off balance,” Holliday said. “I was a little bit surprised by the way we got outside ourselves a little bit against him early, but he made some nice pitches.”

Morovick (3-3) worked seven shutout innings before giving way to Stephen Villines in the eighth, and the Cowboys would mount a rally against the KU closer.

After Dustin Williams drew a one-out walk, Corey Hassel delivered his second double of the day to put OSU runners on second and third. Kevin Bradley then brought home the Cowboys' first run with a sacrifice fly before an infield single off the bat of Bryan Case made the score 3-2.

Villines would escape further damage, however, by getting pinch hitter Mason O'Brien to fly out to end the inning.

In the ninth, Villines set down OSU in order for his eighth save of the season.

The Cowboys will now look to extend their program-record Big 12 series winning streak and maintain their spot atop the conference standings in Sunday's finale.

“The chance to come out (Sunday) and win a series is within our grasp, and that's what we came up here to do,” Holliday said. “You can't get too down. You've got to learn from it and ask yourself how we can be better in those same moments when they show up again.”