PHOENIX — For eight innings Thursday night, the Cowboys looked like it might squander a strong pitching performance from Ethan Lund, and good work from Hudson Barrett, and let a critical Big 12 road game slip away.
Then came one of the wildest ninth innings of the Cowboys’ season.
Trailing by three runs entering the final frame, Oklahoma State exploded for six runs in the top of the ninth inning, highlighted by a go-ahead three-run blast from Campbell Smithwick, as the Cowboys stunned Arizona State 9-6 Thursday night at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.
The victory pushed Oklahoma State to 32-17 overall, continuing its late-season surge, having won seven conference games in a row, including sweeps over Texas Tech and TCU, and then the win last night against Arizona State. The Sun Devils fell to 33-16. With the win, the Cowboys improved to 15-10 in Big 12 play, and, as of this morning, the Pokes are in 5th place, just one game behind both Arizona State and UCF.
What looked like a frustrating offensive night suddenly transformed into another defining comeback victory for OSU, a team that has made a habit of late-game heroics over the past two weeks.
A FAST START FROM BOTH OFFENSES
Oklahoma State wasted little time getting on the board in the first inning.
Alex Conover and Brock Thompson both worked walks to start the game off, then Kollin Ritchie lined an RBI single through the left side to give the Cowboys an early 1-0 lead. The Pokes had runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs, one run already in, but then struck out 3 times in a row to end the rally. And, not to dwell on the negative, but we all know that this team can do that from time to time, strike out too much to kill rallies, so that was a fairly frustrating sequence to watch. But, wow, we had NO IDEA what this team had in store for us at the end of this game.
Arizona State answered immediately against Oklahoma State starter Ethan Lund, although not necessarily by his doing.
After getting the first two out in the bottom of the first, Lund walked Dean Toigo, and that was on him, but that’s when everything went haywire. Austen Roellig popped up a ball behind 2nd base, but Garrett Shull overran the pop-up, and it dropped. Because the ball was never touched, it was scored as a double, and the runners advanced to 2nd and 3rd base. Then Dominic Smaldino hit a routine fly ball to Danny Wallace in right field, and he also overran the fly ball, lost it in the sun, was fooled by the wind, and that ball dropped too. And that one gave the Sun Devils a 2-1 lead. Matt Polk then hit a comebacker off of Lund’s glove, which bounced to Shull, who threw to first but not in time, and Arizona State extended its lead to 3-1. Lund finally got out of the inning when he got Ky McGary to ground out, but the damage was done, and the Pokes were in an early hole.
Between the 3 strike outs to end the top of the first and the missed pop-ups at the bottom, it was a frustrating way to start a HUGE series in the desert.
But Lund settled in impressively. He stabilized the game, and then OSU just kept fighting, and then they did what they did in the 9th. Time to get out the Jugs machines, throw up some pop-ups, and be thankful for the win in Game 1, because winning is all that matters this time of year.
Lund was pretty awesome for the next four innings and finished with 5.0 innings pitched, allowing 3 earned runs on 5 hits while striking out 6 and walking 2 on exactly 100 pitches.
His ability to stabilize the game after the chaotic first inning ultimately gave Oklahoma State a chance to come back later.
SHULL AND SMALL BALL KEEP OSU CLOSE
The Cowboys chipped away methodically against Arizona State starter Cole Carlon, who otherwise dominated for much of the night.
In the second inning, Garrett Shull launched a solo home run 409 feet to left field—his 13th home run of the season—cutting the deficit to 3-2.
An inning later, Oklahoma State manufactured another run without recording a hit.
Ritchie drew a walk, Meola was hit by a pitch, and Smithwick executed a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Deacon Pomeroy then grounded out to shortstop, bringing home Ritchie to tie the game at 3-3.
From there, the game became a pitching duel.
Carlon, the All-American left-hander for ASU, dominated the Cowboys through seven innings, allowing just four hits while striking out 11. The Cowboys elevated his pitch count in the first three innings, and were in position to knock him out fairly early, but then didn’t challenge much in innings 4-6 and let him off the hook from a pitch count perspective. Oklahoma State battled, no question, but the arms they saw last night were elite, and, when it was said and done, the Cowboys struck out 16 times overall in the game.
Still, the Cowboys continued to find ways to survive.
BULLPEN KEEPS OKLAHOMA STATE ALIVE
After Lund’s outing ended in the sixth inning, Oklahoma State’s bullpen initially looked excellent.
Noah Wech entered with a runner on and immediately induced a double play to erase the threat. He followed with a clean seventh inning, continuing his recent stretch of GREAT work after returning from his shoulder issues.
Then the eighth inning happened, and it should have been a blow that knocked out the Cowboys.
Hudson Barrett, who worked a dominant 7th, ran into trouble in the 8th after a leadoff walk to Dean Toigo, which was on him, but he then ran into some tough luck, the same way Lund did. Dean Smaldino hit another pop-up, and it turned into the third misplayed pop-up/flyball of the night, then Matt Polk delivered a two-run single to right-center to give Arizona State a 5-3 lead.
Moments later, Brody Briggs added another RBI single, extending the lead to 6-3 and putting OSU almost assuredly away for Game 1 of this huge Conference series. At that point, the Cowboys had managed only three runs through eight innings and had struck out 14 times.
Then the ninth inning happened.
THE NINTH INNING EXPLOSION
Arizona State turned the game over to Derek Schaefer in the ninth, who is one of College baseballs best closers. And OSU did a great job of getting the ball in play and forcing ASU to make plays, of which they didn’t, which is a HUGE reason OSU put the rally together.
Garrett Shull struck out to begin the inning, but Colin Brueggemann followed with a double to left field. Brady Francisco entered as a pinch runner and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Avery Ortiz then chopped a ball to third base that should have produced an out, but Arizona State’s Austen Roellig threw the ball home instead of the 1st base. He hit Francisco in the back with the throw, Francisco scored, no out was recorded and Ortiz advanced to second.
Suddenly, it was 6-4.
After Remo Indomenico entered as a pinch runner, Conover punched a ball to the shortstop Moutzouridis, and when Indomenico took off for third, Moutzouridis fired to 3rd to get the lead runner. Roelig couldn’t handle the throw, and all was safe. That placed runners at the corners, then Brock Thompson followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, trimming the deficit to 6-5.
Arizona State intentionally walked Ritchie, which put the tying run at 2nd, and the winning run at 1st, and the decision immediately backfired.
Aidan Meola lined a game-tying RBI double off the left field wall, scoring Conover and moving Ritchie to third.
Then Campbell Smithwick (Soup) delivered the knockout punch.
On the first pitch he saw, Smithwick crushed a towering 417-foot three-run homer to deep center field, instantly flipping a 6-3 deficit into a stunning 9-6 Oklahoma State lead.
The Cowboys dugout erupted as Smithwick circled the bases after one of the biggest swings of Oklahoma State’s season. Soup added ANOTHER clutch, late-inning home run to his belt with that blow.
“We just kept believing. Nobody in that dugout thought the game was over. Once we got a couple guys on, you could feel the momentum changing.”
PESCA SLAMS THE DOOR
After the offense completed the comeback, Mario Pesca closed things out in the ninth inning for his first save of the season.
Arizona State threatened briefly with back-to-back singles from Toigo and Roellig, but Pesca responded by striking out Smaldino on a dropped third strike to end the game.
Hudson Barrett earned the win and improved to 5-1, despite allowing three runs in two innings.
TOP PERFORMERS
Smithwick delivered the game’s defining moment and finished 1-for-4 with a three-run homer and 3 RBIs, giving him 8 home runs on the season, three of which have been late/last-inning blows to earn OSU a win.
Ritchie continued his torrid stretch, going 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored, an RBI, and 2 walks. Ritchie, at one point, had been on base in 17 of his last 18 at-bats, and he’s consistently produced in clutch moments.
Meola added another key extra-base hit, finishing 1-for-4 with the game-tying RBI double, while Conover reached base three times and scored twice. The resurgence of Aidan Meola has had a direct effect on Kollin Ritchie. Kollin is taking his walks, which means he’s swinging at the right pitches, and when he’s doing that, only swinging at the right pitches, College pitchers can’t beat him.
Shull’s early solo homer kept Oklahoma State within striking distance throughout the middle innings.
For Arizona State, Smaldino was outstanding, finishing 3-for-5 with a triple, double, and 2 RBIs, while Polk drove in 3 runs. Of course, all of that is relative due to the pop up issues.
OFFENSIVE TRENDS CONTINUE
Even with the 16 strikeouts, Oklahoma State’s offense continued a major trend that has defined the past two weeks: relentless late-inning pressure. You can add the Texas Tech series to that as well, IMO.
The Cowboys have repeatedly produced explosive innings late in games, showing a “gritty” resilience, and the middle of the order with Ritchie and Meola, accompanied by some finishing blows from Smithwick, has carried the offense during this stretch.
The power surge has also continued. Oklahoma State has at least 2 home runs in six Conference games in a row.
LOOKING AHEAD
Oklahoma State will continue the series against Arizona State tonight with the chance to win another critical Big 12 series.
The Cowboys enter Friday’s matchup at 32-17 overall and 15-10 in Big 12 play, while Arizona State falls to 33-16.
Projected starters for tomorrow’s game are expected to be Oklahoma State right-hander Stormy Rhodes, and for Arizona State, they’ve used four different Saturday starters in their last four Conference series, and five different Saturday starters in Conference play, so it will be a TBA for them.
Head Coach Josh Holliday’s overall thoughts on the game.
“That’s a mature baseball team. You don’t come back from three down in the ninth on the road unless you’ve got toughness and belief throughout the dugout.”
