How Oklahoma State's Chances to Win Big 12 Tournament Slipped Away
A traditional Big 12 power faces a non-traditional Big 12 champion in a Big 12 baseball tournament semifinal on Friday.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys (37-19) won the Big 12 Tournament in 2024 and won a Big 12 regular season title in 2023. They will likely have the nation’s second-longest streak of NCAA Tournament appearances once the 64-team field is revealed on Monday. Every year, a team that wants to win a Big 12 title usually must go through the Cowboys.
Kansas (40-16) is going things the program hasn’t done before. The Jayhawks won the Big 12 regular season title, their first such crown since 1949. Their 22 Big 12 wins and eight conference series wins were both program records.
In April, Kansas traveled to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State and the Jayhawks took two out of three. The two teams combined for an aggregate score of 24-22, with KU having a slight edge. Both teams can score runs in bunches.
The Cowboys did that against UCF in the quarterfinals on Thursday, winning 12-6 even though they didn’t hit a home run. Four different Cowboys had two hits and Colin Brueggemann drove in four runs. Kanass won its quarterfinal game over Baylor, 8-7, in 10 innings after surrendering a six-run lead and requiring a walk-off home run by Savion Flowers.
First pitch for the game is 6:30 p.m. at Surprise Stadium in Surprise Ariz., the spring training home of the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. The winner will face the winner of the West Virginia-Arizona State, which follows on Friday. The championship game is set for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Live scoring is below, along with Oklahoma State's starting lineup. Stop by here for inning-by-inning updates.
OSU Batting Order
Here is the batting order and the starting pitcher for the Cowboys on Friday.
LF Alex Conover
SS Brock Thompson
CF Kollin Ritchie
3B Aidan Meola
C Campbell Smithwick
2B Avery Ortiz
1B Colin Brueggemann
DH Garrett Shull
RF Danny Wallace
SP Ethan Lund
First Inning (OSU)
Kansas Starting Pitcher: Mason Cook
Alex Conover grounded out to shortstop.
Brock Thompson struck out swinging.
Kollin Ritchie struck out swinging.
OSU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: 0-0
First Inning (Kansas)
OSU Starting Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Tyson LeBlanc walked. Advanced to second base on a wild pitch.
Tyson Owens walked.
Cade Baldridge struck out swinging.
Josh Dyhkoff reaches on fielder’s choice hit to second base. Owens forced out at second base. LeBlanc advanced to third. Dyhkoff safe at first.
Augusto Mungarrieta singled to right field. LeBlanc scored. Dyhkoff advanced to second base. Kansas leads, 1-0.
Jordan Bach doubled to left center field. Dyhkoff scored from second base. Mungarrieta advanced to third base. Kansas leads, 2-0.
Dylan Schlotterback flied out to left field.
KU: 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 2-0.
Second Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Mason Cook
Aidan Meola popped out to first base.
Campbell Smithwick struck out swinging.
Avery Ortiz singled to center field.
Colin Brueggemann grounded to second base.
OSU: 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 2-0
Second Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Savion Flowers grounded out to second base.
Dariel Osoria singled.
LeBlanc doubled to deep center field, Osoria scored. Kansas leads, 3-0
Owens flied out to center field.
Baldridge grounded out to third base.
KU: 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0.
Third Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Mason Cook
Garrett Shull struck out swinging
Danny Wallace popped out to right field
Alex Conover flew out to center field.
OSU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0
Third Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Josh Dyhkoff flew out to center field.
Augusto Mungarrieta struck out looking.
Jordan Bach walked.
Dylan Schlotterback struck out swinging.
KU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0.
Fourth Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Mason Cook
Brock Thompson grounded out to first base
Kollin Ritchie grounded out to second base.
Aidan Meola singled to center field
Campbell Smithwick struck out looking
OSU: 0 runs, 1 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0
Fourth Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Savion Flowers popped out to shortstop.
Darial Osoria flew out to right field.
Tyson LeBlanc popped out to second base.
KU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0.
Fifth Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Mason Cook
Avery Ortiz grounded out to third base
Colin Brueggemann walked.
Garrett Shull flied out to left field.
Danny Wallace walked. Brueggemann advanced to second. Brueggemann advanced to third on a wild pitch. Kansas challenged the play and it was upheld.
Alex Conover hit by pitch. Wallace advanced to second. Brueggemann remained at third.
Brock Thompson struck out swinging.
OSU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0
Fifth Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Tyson Owens struck out looking
Cade Baldridge singled to right field.
Josh Dyhkoff at plate. Baldridge advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Dyhkoff struck out swinging. Baldridge remained at second base.
Augusto Mungarrieta struck out swinging
KU: 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-0.
Sixth Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Mason Cook
Kollin Ritchie walked.
Aidan Meola struck out swinging
Campbell Smithwick grounded out to second base. Ritchie advanced to second base.
Avery Ortiz doubled to deep center field. Ritchie scored from second. Kansas 3, OSU 1
Kansas Pitching Change: Toby Scheidt for Mason Cook
Colin Brueggemann grounded out to first base.
OSU: 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-1
Sixth Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Ethan Lund
Jordan Bach poppled out to right field.
Dylan Schlotterback struck out swinging
Savion Flowers struck out swinging
KU: 0 runs, 0 hitx, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-1
Seventh Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Toby Scheidt
Garrett Shull struck out swinging
Danny Wallace struck out swinging
Alex Conover struck out swinging
OSU: 0 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-1
Seventh Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitching Change: Kai Fyke for Ethan Lund
Dariel Orsora fouled out to right field
Tyson LeBlanc grounded out to third base. Kansas challenged call. Call overturned. LeBlanc is safe at first base.
Tyson Owens grounded into double play, scored 4-6-3.
KU: 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-1
Eighth Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitching Change: Raine Ritter for Toby Scheidt
Brock Thompson walked
Kollin Ritchie struck out swinging
Aidan Meola doubled to left field. Thompson advanced to third base.
Campbell Smithwick sacrifice fly to center field. Thompson scored. Meola stayed at second base. Kansas 3, Oklahoma State 2
Avery Ortiz groundout to first base.
OSU: 1 run, 1 hits, 0 errors, 1 left on base. Score: Kansas 3-2
Eighth Inning (Kansas)
OSU Pitcher: Kai Fyke
Cade Baldridge struck out swinging
Josh Dykhoff singled to right field
Augusto Mungarrieta doubled to left center field. Dykhoff scored. Kansas 4, Oklahoma State 2
Jordan Bach hit by pitch. Mungarrieta stays at second base.
Dylan Schlotterback struck out swinging
Savion Flowers singled to left center. Mungarrieta scored. Bach advanced to second base. Kansas 5, Oklahoma State 2
Dariel Osoria walked. Bach advanced to third. Flowers advanced to second.
Tyson LeBlanc homered to left field (grand slam). Bach scored. Flowers scored. Osoria scored. LeBlanc scored. Kansas 9, Oklahoma State 2
Oklahoma State pitching change: Brennan Phillips for Kai Fyke.
Tyson Owens struck out swinging.
KU: 6 run, 4 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base. Score: Kansas 9-2
Ninth Inning (OSU)
Kansas Pitcher: Raine Ritter
Colin Brueggemann struck out swinging
Deacon Pomeroy (pinch-hitter for Garrett Shull) struck out looking
Norman Sebastian (pinch-hitter for Danny Wallace) struck out swinging
OSU: 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base.
Final Score: Kansas 9, Oklahoma State 2 (Oklahoma State eliminated from Big 12 Tournament)
2026 Big 12 Baseball Tournament Schedule
At Surprise Stadium, Surprise, Ariz.
All times central
Tuesday’s Results
Game 1 – No. 9 BYU 18, No. 12 Texas Tech 8 (Texas Tech eliminated)
Game 2 – No. 11 Kansas State 9, No. 10 Utah 5 (Utah eliminated)
Wednesday’s Results
Game 3 – No. 8 Baylor 13, No. 9 BYU 8 (BYU eliminated)
Game 4 – No. 11 Kansas State 9, No. 7 TCU 4 (TCU eliminated)
Thursday’s Results
Game 5 – No. 5 Oklahoma State 12, No. 4 UCF 6 (UCF eliminated)
Game 6 – No. 1 Kansas 8, No. 8 Baylor 7 (10 innings, Baylor eliminated)
Game 7 – No. 2 West Virginia 4, No. 11 Kansas State 2 (Kansas State eliminated)
Game 8 – No. 3 Arizona State 10, No. 6 Cincinnati 2 (Cincinnati eliminated)
Friday's Results
Game 9 – No. 1 Kansas 9, No. 5 Oklahoma State 2 (OSU eliminated)
Game 10 – No. 2 West Virginia vs. No. 3 Arizona State – 10 p.m. – ESPN+
Saturday's Game
Game 11 – No. 1 Kansas vs. West Virginia-Arizona State winner – 6:30 p.m. – ESPN2
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
Follow PostinsPostcard