It’s one thing to build momentum and another to squander it - Pokes pull out good faith series win against Baylor only to get blasted by Missouri State?
SPRINGFIELD, MO — The Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball team demonstrated a bit of fight over the weekend, taking two of three games against Baylor and flashing bats and bullpen depth that had fans optimistic heading into midweek play.
Yet, that momentum evaporated Tuesday night in Springfield, Missouri. On March 24, at Hammons Field, the Cowboys forgot to show up against the Missouri State Bears, suffering a humiliating 16-2 run-rule loss in just seven innings.
Missouri State improved to 16-7 overall and a perfect 11-0 at home, while Oklahoma State dropped to 16-9.
The Bears wasted no time handing out the rear-kicking.
In the bottom of the first, Missouri State loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch before Carter Bergman unloaded a grand slam to left center field, driving in four runs and giving the hosts an early 4-0 lead.
It continued in the second inning when Logan Fyffe launched another grand slam to left field, scoring Bergman, center fielder C. Bogenpohl, and third baseman C. Sutherland, pushing the score to 8-0.
Bergman, named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week earlier in the season, wasn’t finished as he added a solo home run in the fourth, his 10th of the year and second of the game, for a career high six RBIs in the contest.
That blast made it 9-0 and marked his third multi homer performance in a career.
Oklahoma State starter Brennan Phillips (1-2) lasted only one inning, surrendering four runs on four hits. The Cowboys cycled through seven pitchers in the shortened game, none of whom could slow the Bears’ bats. David Winslow allowed four more runs in the second, and the bullpen continued to struggle as Missouri State tacked on a run in the fourth, exploded for six in the fifth, and added one more in the sixth on Taeg Gollert’s solo homer.
The fifth-inning rally was particularly ugly for OSU; Gabe Roessler tripled, Jackson Beaman doubled, and the Bears capitalized on two Cowboy errors, a pair of wild pitches, Fyffe’s RBI single, and Roessler’s bases-loaded walk. Fyffe finished with three hits and five RBIs, while Roessler went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Missouri State pounded out 14 hits, including four home runs and eight extra-base hits, with zero errors.
The Cowboys finally scratched across their only runs in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Kollin Ritchie, OSU’s leader with 39 RBIs on the season, ripped a two-run double to center, plating B.
Francisco and G. Shull to cut the deficit to 9-2. But the rally ended there. Oklahoma State managed just seven hits total, struck out 15 times, and went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Danny Wallace provided the only multi-hit effort with a pair of singles, while the defense committed two costly errors.
Max Knight (3-0) earned the win for Missouri State, tossing a career-high 4.1 innings of one-hit, two-run ball with seven strikeouts. Reliever Jason Schaaf closed it out with 2.2 scoreless innings and eight punchouts, matching his personal best.
This midweek debacle came after Oklahoma State had taken the season series from Missouri State with an 8-7 thriller in Stillwater on March 3.
The Bears, ranked ninth in the latest NCAA RPI entering the contest, now boast the nation’s top home record and have hit a season-high 50 home runs on the year.
The Cowboys now turn their attention to Big 12 Conference play this weekend, traveling to Provo, Utah, for a three-game series against BYU beginning Thursday, March 26. First pitch for Thursday and Friday’s games is set for 7 p.m. CDT, with Saturday’s finale scheduled for noon CDT at Miller Park.
Oklahoma State will lean on its weekend rotation to bounce back. Head coach Josh Holliday is expected to send transfer right-hander Hudson Barrett to the mound in Thursday’s opener, Barrett has been a reliable game-one starter all season.
Right-hander Mario Pesca, who has shown flashes of dominance in recent outings, and lefty Ethan Lund are the likely candidates for Friday and Saturday, though exact matchups will be confirmed closer to game time. The Cowboys enter the series 2-4 in Big 12 play and will look to climb the standings after their non-conference hiccup.
With conference games now in full swing and a talented roster featuring standouts like Ritchie and Wallace, the Cowboys have the pieces to rebound. A strong showing in Provo could quickly erase the memory of Hammons Field and set the tone for the remainder of the 2026 campaign. But which version of this Cowboys baseball team will show up?