Cowboy Baseball's Crushing Losses at BYU Tell Story of 2026

The Cowboys have to get back on track to avoid a disastrous season.

Oklahoma State head baseball coach Josh Holliday is pictured during the college baseball game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and the UT Arlington at O'Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Sunday, Feb., 23, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State hasn’t had much go its way thus far, but there’s still plenty of time to turn things around.

On Saturday, OSU baseball wrapped up a three-game series in Provo against BYU with a 5-4 loss. Leading 4-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, disaster struck for the Cowboys, who looked poised to win back-to-back Big 12 series after starting conference play by getting swept by UCF.

Just as things looked like they were starting to turn in OSU’s direction after a 12-5 victory in the second game of the series, the third game quickly shifted. While an RBI double cut OSU’s lead to one run, the Cowboys still had an opportunity to close out the game, as BYU had two outs and one runner on base.

Instead, Keoni Painter hit a two-run walkoff home run to help BYU complete its ninth inning rally and secure a 2-1 series win. It was especially crushing considering OSU had a great opportunity at sweeping the Cougars, given that OSU had a one-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth of the first game before eventually losing in the 10th on an Easton Jones walkoff homer.

Had OSU won both of those games, it would have a winning record in Big 12 play. Instead, the Pokes are 3-6 against conference opponents and are already having to play catch up as the calendar turns to April. If OSU continues to have games end like those two losses in Provo did, it might even spell trouble for head coach Josh Holliday.

For a program that’s had so much success under Holliday, it’s simply hard to imagine Cowboy baseball without him. However, if things continue to go in this direction, it’s also hard to imagine that Cowboy baseball and the OSU athletics department is interested in being complacent.

As seen in recent years with Mike Gundy in football and Mike Boynton in men’s basketball, the Cowboys love to be loyal to coaches who love the program and the community, but eventually results have to follow.

Considering all of the success Holliday has had in Stillwater, he likely will get some leeway with the team’s underperformance this season. Still, the Cowboys need to find some real results the rest of the way to avoid any major shakeups in the near future.

The Cowboys will look to bounce back from their debacle against BYU with a game against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night in Dallas.