Big 12 Baseball: Then There Were Six
Thursday’s four games at the Big 12 Baseball Tournament at Globe Life Field brought excitement and a few surprises. In the first two elimination games of the tournament, Oklahoma State run-ruled Baylor to send the Bears home. Then, Kansas State, which has a history of shaking things up during the tourney, beat West Virginia. West Virginia is most likely not done and is projected to be in the Field of 64 when the postseason teams are announced on Monday.
In the Winners’ Bracket games, Texas beat TCU to move on to the semifinals, and Oklahoma beat Texas Tech to claim their spot in Saturday’s semifinals. In Division One, Oklahoma State and TCU face each other at 3:15 p.m. Friday in an elimination game. And in Division Two, Kansas State and Texas Tech will play their elimination game Friday evening.
Here is a recap of Thursday’s games. Numbers preceding a team name indicate the seed placement in the tournament.
#4 Oklahoma State vs. #8 Baylor
Oklahoma State won 11-1
OSU ace Justin Campbell fanned ten batters in the game. This was his 11th career game with ten or more strikeouts. Zach Ehrhard and Roc Riggio, the first two batters in the OSU lineup, combined to go 7-10 with six runs. Griffin Doershing blasted a homerun for 447 feet. The Pokes were firing on all cylinders. The game was called after seven innings due to the run rule.
Winning Pitcher – Campbell; Losing Pitcher – Jake Jackson
#6 West Virginia vs. #7 Kansas State
Kansas State won 8-5
Kansas State advanced to the third round of the Big 12 Tournament for the second straight season, while West Virginia went winless in the tournament for the first time since 2015. KSU had four sacrifice hits, its most in a game this season. KSU’s starting pitcher Blake Adams stuck out nine batters, the second time he hit this mark this season. He threw 118+ pitches for the second straight game. West Virginia did add to their stolen base total with one by JJ Wetherholt. The Mountaineers lead the Big 12 and are second in the nation with 156 stolen bases
Winning Pitcher – Adams; Losing Pitcher – Ben Hampton; Save – Dylan Phillips
#1 TCU vs. #5 Texas
Texas won 5-3
Texas advanced to the semifinals for the second straight season and went 2-0 to start the tournament for the first time since 2017. Murphy Stehly got things started early for the Longhorns with a 3-run homerun in the top of the first for his 17th of the season. Starting pitcher Lucas Gordon had a career-high 108 pitches. He pitched 7.2 innings allowing just two hits.
Texas did get a little help from the umps. Read how in our full recap of the game here.
Winning Pitcher – Gordon; Losing Pitcher – Marcel Perez; Save – Tristan Stevens
#2 Texas Tech vs. #3 Oklahoma
Oklahoma won 6-3
The Sooners got it started with a 3-run homerun by Jackson Nicklaus in the top of the second and didn’t look back after that. Starting pitcher Jake Bennett through a career-high 7.2 innings while fanning a career-high 12 batters. He gave up just two hits and one run. Tech tried to make it interesting with a two-RBI homerun in the bottom of the 9th, but Trevin Michael was able to shut down the attempt at a comeback.
Winning Pitcher - Bennett; Losing Pitcher – Andrew Morris
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