A Pitcher's Duel Turns Into an Offensive Onslaught
Oklahoma State improved to 30-17 overall and 13-10 in Big 12 play with a 9-2 victory over Texas Christian University, marking their fourth conference series win of the season. The game began as a tightly contested pitchers' duel, with Stormy Rhodes delivering a career‑long 5 2/3 innings and tying his personal best with six strikeouts while allowing just two runs.
Reliever Mario Pesca shut the door in the later frames, working the final 3 1/3 innings without surrendering a run, striking out six and limiting TCU to a single hit. His effort improved him to 5-3 on the year and cemented a bullpen that held the opposition scoreless after the sixth inning.
The offensive burst came in the eighth inning, where the Cowboys exploded for four runs. Avery Ortiz opened the frame with his first home run of the season, and Garrett Shull followed with a two‑run shot. Earlier, Ortiz and Shull had each driven in two RBIs, and Danny Wallace’s aggressive base running set up the go‑ahead run in the seventh.
TCU had taken an early 2-0 lead in the sixth with a two‑out, two‑run double by Chase Brunson, but the Cowboys answered with sacrifice flies from Campbell Smithwick and Ortiz to knot the score. A two‑run double by Aidan Meola in the seventh pushed the lead to 5-2, and the eighth‑inning rally turned the game into a 9-2 final.