Cowboy baseball bounced back on Tuesday evening, run-ruling Wichita State, 14-4, in seven innings - this comes after a 1-2 series loss against Kansas in the past weekend. Oklahoma State heads to Texas Tech this weekend for a 3 game series
STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State baseball delivered a needed performance Tuesday evening at O’Brate Stadium, run-ruling Wichita State 14-4 in just seven innings.
The Cowboys (25-16) erupted for an eight-run third inning that turned a tight ballgame into a rout, improving to 25-16 while dropping the Shockers to 24-18. It marked head coach Josh Holliday’s 500th career win, but more importantly, it showed the explosive offense that has defined, and sometimes frustrated, this Cowboy squad all season.
The game started quietly enough. Wichita State put up a run in the second on an outfield miscommunication, but Oklahoma State answered in the bottom half when Brock Thompson launched a leadoff solo home run to right-center, his ninth of the season, to give the Cowboys a 2-1 lead after two innings. Then came the third. What followed was a bit of a scoring nightmare for the Shockers’ pitching staff.
Ten straight Oklahoma State batters reached base in the frame. Thompson led it off with another hit, but the real damage started when power hitter Kollin Ritchie was drilled in the hand by a 93-mph fastball from Wichita State starter Heitaro Hayashi.
Holliday and the athletic trainers rushed out to check on their star center fielder, but Ritchie stayed in the game and eventually delivered an RBI groundout to help fuel the rally. Evan Saunders and Campbell Smithwick drew back to back walks to load the bases. Sebastian Norman ripped an RBI single to right, scoring Ritchie.
Then the walks kept coming: Colin Brueggemann, Garrett Shull, Danny Wallace, and Alex Conover each drew bases-loaded free passes, pushing the lead to 7-1 before Thompson added another RBI single and Ritchie capped the inning with his groundout. Eight runs on three hits and six walks. Game over, essentially.
Ritchie’s willingness to stay in after taking one off the hand speaks volumes. The junior outfielder has been the heartbeat of the Cowboy lineup all year, slashing .292 with 21 home runs and 56 RBI through 40 games. He’s squarely in the chase for Oklahoma State’s single season home run record, the legendary 48 set by Pete Incaviglia back in 1985.
A power bat with elite defense in center, Ritchie isn’t just a slugger, he’s the guy opponents pitch around. Losing him, even temporarily, would be a massive blow to a team that lives and dies by its offense.
Wichita State showed some fight, tying the game briefly at 1-1 in the third on a Nolan Ganter RBI single and adding three more in the fifth to pull within 9-4. But the Cowboy bullpen, led by winner Zane Burns (2-0), slammed the door. Burns struck out the final two batters of the fifth with the bases loaded.
Oklahoma State added insurance with a two-run homer from Norman in the sixth (his third of the year) and a pinch-hit, three run bomb from Deacon Pomeroy in the seventh to earn the 10-run mercy rule. Thompson finished 4-for-5 with a homer and multiple RBI; Norman and Pomeroy combined for five RBI on two long balls.
This victory fits perfectly into the Josh Holliday rollercoaster that has been Oklahoma State baseball in 2026. Just when you think this team is on a roll, they’ll drop a head scratching series. When it feels like all is lost, they’ll string together a mini win streak that reminds everyone of their potential. The highs are electric and the lows are deflating.
Tuesday’s blowout was one of the highs, a reminder of what this lineup can do when the bats wake up and the patience at the plate turns into production.
Now the Cowboys hit the road for a massive three game series this weekend in Lubbock against Texas Tech.
The Cowboy baseball rollercoaster desperately needs to keep climbing. A series win away from home, against a dangerous Red Raider team in their own ballpark, would be huge for momentum heading into the stretch run of the Big 12 season.