Big 12 Baseball Championship: Day Three Recap

Four more games were played on Thursday at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship in Arlington. Kansas State and Cincinnati eliminated.

TCU's Anthony Silva attempts a slide at home plate in Thursday's game against Kansas State in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. / Barry Lewis/KillerFrogs

Phillips Big 12 Baseball Championship - Thursday's Games

1. Game Nine –No. 9 TCU 9 - No. 6 Kansas State 4
2. Game Ten – No. 1 Oklahoma 7 - No. 7 Kansas 5
3. Game Eleven –No. 10 Texas Tech 10 - No. 5 Cincinnati 5
4. Game Twelve – No. 8 UCF 7 – No. 2 Oklahoma State 6 (10 innings)

Postseason baseball continued on Thursday at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship in Arlington. The week started with the top ten teams from the regular season facing off in a new double-elimination tournament format. After Thursday’s games, we are down to six teams, as No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 6 Kansas State were eliminated.

After 12 games, the remaining teams are the top two seeded teams (Oklahoma and Oklahoma State) and last four seeded teams (Kansas, UCF, TCU, and Texas Tech).

Game Nine –No. 9 TCU 9 - No. 6 Kansas State 4

For the third straight morning, No. 6 Kansas State (32-24) played in the first game of the day for some Breakfast Baseball. Once again, they played an elimination game, this time against No. 9 TCU (33-20).

The Horned Frogs would get four runs in the first two innings and never looked back after that. Ben Abeldt came out of the bullpen to start his first game of the season and got the win, as the Frogs won 9-4. Louis Rodriguez, a regular starter, came in and got the 3.2 inning save.

For a complete recap of this game, read our article here.

TCU moved to 17-6 all-time at Globe Life Field and 29-14 in the Big 12 Championship. Kansas State fell to 22-28 in the tournament. The Frogs have a 5-1 tournament record over the Wildcats.

Winning pitcher: - Ben Abeldt (3-0); Losing pitcher – Jackson Wentworth (4-5); Save – Louis Rodriguez (2)

Next up: TCU meets Kansas at 9 a.m. on Friday in an elimination game. Kansas State was the third team eliminated from this year’s tournament.

Game Ten – No. 1 Oklahoma 7 - No. 7 Kansas 5

The No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners (36-18) showed why they are the number one seed in the tournament. They found themselves down 4-2 in the top of the 4th against No. 7 Kansas (30-22). Sooners’ pitcher Kyson Witherspoon pitched himself into a jam. After getting the first out with a strikeout, he then walked the next three batters to load the bases.

After a multi-pitch battle to strike out shortstop Collier Cranford, Witherspoon gave a look to coach Skip Johnson expecting to get pulled. Instead, Johnson smiled and kept him on the mound. Witherspoon would then face a 13-pitch at bat. The tension was thick. One swing could open up the Jayhawks’ lead. But instead, he finally caught Ty Wisdom looking to end the threat. The Sooners would take the lead in the bottom of the 4th and held on to advance in the winners’ bracket.

Oklahoma moved to 4-1 against Kansas in the Big 12 Championship and  is now 45-43 all-time at the Big 12 Championship. Kansas fell to 14-25 in the tournament.

Winning pitcher – Carter Campbell (4-0), Losing pitcher – Reese Dutton (7-5); Save – Malachi Witherspoon (4).

Game Eleven –No. 10 Texas Tech 10 - No. 5 Cincinnati 5

No. 10 Texas Tech (33-25) came into Arlington to make some noise after a regular season that fell far from expectations. After beating Texas on Tuesday, they fell to Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Not ready to go home, they took immediate control of their elimination game against No. 5 Cincinnati (32-25).

After scoring three runs in the top of the 1st and then another five runs in the top of the 2nd, Tech was up 8-0 and was able to sail through the rest of the game to win it 10-5. It was never close.

Texas Tech improved to 27-40 in the Big 12 Championship. This was Cincinnati’s inaugural appearance in the tournament and finished 1-2.

Winning pitcher – Ryan Free (6-2); Losing pitcher – Michael Conte (2-1).

Next up: Texas Tech meets Oklahoma State at 4 p.m. on Friday in an elimination game. Cincinnati was the fourth team eliminated from this year’s tournament.  

Game Twelve – No. 8 UCF 7 – No. 2 Oklahoma State 6 (10 innings)

In Thursday’s night cap, No. 2 Oklahoma State (37-17) struck first with four runs in the 1st inning, only to have No. 8 UCF (35-18) match those four runs in the top of the 2nd inning. From there, it was a back-and-forth affair that eventually would lead to extra innings.

The Knights would take the lead in the top of the 10th inning with an RBI single by AJ Nessler. UCF pitcher Dominic Castellano would come back out for the bottom of the 10th inning to gain the win.

This year marks UCF first appearance in the Big 12 Championship and has started 2-0. Oklahoma state is now 40-44 in the Big 12 Championship. The game also marked the first Big 12 Championship with multiple extra-inning games since 2017.

Winning pitcher – Dominic Castellano (6-0); Losing pitcher – Gabe Davis (1-4).

Next up: Oklahoma State plays Texas Tech on Friday at 4 p.m. in an elimination game. Following that game, UCF plays the winner of the Oklahoma State/Texas Tech game.

Next up: Kansas plays TCU on Friday at 9 a.m. in an elimination game. Following that game, Oklahoma plays the winner of the Kansas/TCU game.

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