Oklahoma State Cowboy baseball hosted a hitting clinic at O’Brate Stadium on Saturday afternoon — Bomb Bearkats with a 20 piece
STILLWATER, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Cowboys continued their impressive early-season form with a resounding 20-0 shutout win over the Sam Houston Bearkats on Saturday afternoon at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater.
This blowout followed a solid 5-1 victory in the series opener on Friday night, where OSU’s pitching staff limited Sam Houston to just one run while the offense scratched across five, including a home run from Brock Thompson.
The back-to-back wins extended the Cowboys’ streak to six games, showcasing a team firing on all cylinders.
Saturday’s contest was a clinic in hitting and pitching for Oklahoma State (7-3), who overwhelmed Sam Houston (4-6) from the outset. The Cowboys jumped ahead early and never looked back, plating runs in six of eight innings while holding the Bearkats scoreless.
Ethan Lund anchored the mound for OSU, delivering a stellar performance in his third start of the season. The left-hander tossed six shutout innings, striking out a career-high 14 batters on just three hits and no walks, improving to 2-0.
Relievers Zane Burns and Drew Winslow closed out the game with three more scoreless frames, combining for five strikeouts as the staff racked up an impressive 19 punchouts total.
OSU’s defense was equally impenetrable, committing just one error while turning in several key plays to stifle any Sam Houston momentum.
The Bearkats managed only four hits, doubles from Nathan Fink and singles from Caleb Cotton and Wes Baker, but couldn’t capitalize, leaving five runners on base.
Sam Houston’s lone error, a dropped fly ball in left field by Cotton in the second inning, proved costly, opening the floodgates for five unearned OSU runs.
On the mound, Bearkats starter Tyler Ryden (1-2) lasted just 1.2 innings, surrendering six runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks. Five relievers followed, but none could stem the tide as OSU hammered 15 hits, including six home runs.
The Cowboy bats were scorching hot, exploding for 20 runs, their highest output since a 20-5 win over Houston in May 2024. Kollin Ritchie stole the show with a historic three home-run game, driving in seven RBIs on 3-for-4 hitting.
His blasts included a three-run shot in the second, a two-run homer in the third, and another two-run bomb in the fifth, making him the first Cowboy since Nolan Schubart in 2024 to achieve the feat.
Brock Thompson was equally dominant, going 3-for-3 with five RBIs, two doubles, a three-run homer in the sixth, and reaching base five times via two walks.
Alex Conover contributed three hits, including a triple and two RBIs, scoring four runs.
Freshman Deacon Pomeroy made a memorable debut, homering on his first pitch as a pinch-hitter in the fifth, while Danny Wallace capped the scoring with a three-run opposite-field homer in the eighth, his first career round-tripper.
Key plays were the story in this one. In the first, Conover and Thompson traded doubles for the initial run. The second inning erupted after Francisco was hit by a pitch and Conover reached on the error, setting up Ritchie’s first homer. The third mirrored the outburst with Conover’s two-RBI triple and Thompson’s RBI double, followed by Ritchie’s second blast.
OSU added three-run frames in the fifth and sixth, with Thompson’s homer pushing the lead to 17-0 before Wallace’s eighth-inning shot finalized the 20-0 mercy rule margin after eight and a half innings.
Sam Houston’s offense struggled against OSU’s suffocating defense and pitching, with Fink’s two doubles marking their only extra-base hits. The Bearkats struck out 19 times and drew just one walk, completely under the Cowboys’ control.
The series wraps up with Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m. CT in Stillwater. Oklahoma State will send right-hander Mario Pesca (0-1, 11.57 ERA) to the mound, facing off against Sam Houston’s righty Collin Aloisio (2-0, 1.80 ERA).
With the series already clinched, the Cowboys aim to complete the sweep and push their streak to seven.