Cowboy Baseball Falls To Oral Roberts

Oklahoma State dropped its first meeting of the season against in-state foe Oral Roberts Tuesday night as the Cowboys suffered a 10-5 loss at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 20-14-1 and have lost four-straight meetings with ORU (21-14) dating back to last season. The two teams are scheduled to meet again on May 1 in Tulsa.

Ben Leeper took the loss on the mound despite tying a career high with six strikeouts as the sophomore right-hander gave up three runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief to fall to 1-1.

Offensively, Matt Kroon and Colin Simpson both homered, and Carson McCusker tied a career high with three hits, including an RBI double.

OSU jumped out to a quick lead in its first at bat as Kroon and Simpson hit back-to-back home runs. Kroon sent his fifth of the season to center field before Simpson deposited the first pitch he saw over the wall in left for his Big 12-leading 12th homer of the season. The blast also marked Simpson’s career high.

The Cowboys’ lead did not last long as in the second, ORU took advantage of two errors by the OSU infield to plate a pair of runs and tie the score at 2-2.

But OSU seized the lead right back in the bottom of the inning when with runners on the corners, McCusker ripped an RBI double down the left-field line to put the home team up 3-2.

That would be the last run OSU would get until the seventh, and ORU took the lead for good in the fifth when Noah Cummings blasted a three-run home run off the foul pole in left field to give the Golden Eagles a 5-3 advantage.

OSU positioned itself to overtake the Golden Eagles in the seventh after a pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt put a pair of Cowboys in scoring position with one out. Simpson then delivered a sacrifice fly to center to trim the deficit to 5-4, but a strikeout ended the inning and stranded the tying run 90 feet away.

The Golden Eagles took command in the eighth, rallying for five runs on four hits as they sent 10 batters to the plate. The big blow in the inning came on a two-out, three-RBI double by Andrew Pace and when the dust settled, ORU held a 10-4 lead.

OSU’s final run of the game came when pinch hitter Cade Cabbiness led off the ninth with a home run to center field, his first-round tripper of the season.

The Cowboys are scheduled to return to action Friday when the co-Big 12 leaders host Kansas at 6:30 p.m. at Reynolds Stadium.