Bedlam baseball: Oklahoma State avoids sweep, beats OU 8-7 in extra innings
Hallie HartFor The Oklahoman
NORMAN — Kale Davis took off his baseball cap and gestured toward the sky before joining his Oklahoma State teammates in celebration.
It had been a long night, but Davis remained tenacious through extra innings. With his relief pitching, the Cowboys prevented Oklahoma from sweeping the Bedlam series.
Davis, a second-year freshman from Westmoore, struck out two in the 12th inning to secure an 8-7 Game 3 victory for OSU on Sunday night. The Sooners (22-20 overall, 6-9 Big 12) won the series for the first time since 2016, but the Cowboys showed they refused to give up at the end of a tough weekend.
Davis earned the win, and Brock Mathis gave OSU (25-14-1, 8-10) the final offensive push it needed. After Carson McCusker and Cade Cabbiness hit singles to spark the offense in the 12th inning, Mathis provided the go-ahead RBI single. His hit to left-center field allowed McCusker to cross home, giving the Cowboys their 8-7 lead.
“We have a really good team here,” Davis said. “We’ve just been lacking putting it all together. This win right here, this sparks the start of something big, and I think for us right now, we need something like that to pick us up.
“…It was epic. That’s the only word I can really say.”
After striking out three to force the extra innings, Davis stabilized the Cowboy defense when it mattered most.
“I think Kale pitched tonight from his gut and from his heart on behalf of his team,” OSU coach Josh Holliday said. “It just shows how powerful your mind is and what your drive is. He pitched for Oklahoma State.”
Davis gave up no earned runs and recorded a total of seven strikeouts through 4.1 innings despite facing an unusual challenge in the eighth inning.
When he entered the game to face fellow Westmoore alumnus Brandon Zaragoza, Davis inherited a bases-loaded situation that resulted from a single and two walks. After Davis threw his second strike to Zaragoza, creating a full count, OSU catcher Mathis was charged with a throwing error as he attempted to return the ball to Davis. As it ricocheted off Davis’ glove, OU’s Jimmy Crooks had the perfect opportunity to advance from third base to home plate and break the 5-5 tie.
The play was subject to a lengthy review, but officials determined Crooks barely beat the throw back to Mathis at home. Then Zaragoza followed with an RBI single, but the Cowboys added two runs in the top of the ninth to even the game at 7.
In true Bedlam fashion, the Cowboys and Sooners swapped leads throughout the chaotic game.
In the top of the first, Jake Thompson’s sacrifice fly to left-center field scored Max Hewitt, putting OSU up 1-0, but the Sooners didn’t let the Cowboys keep that advantage for long. Brett Squires opened the bottom of the second with a solo shot that soared over the left-center wall, and Conor McKenna built on that momentum when he blasted a three-run homer in the same direction, extending OU’s lead to 4-1 against Cowboy starter Brett Standlee.
The Sooners capitalized on the breeze that was carrying long balls over the left-field fence, but the wind drifting over L. Dale Mitchell Park also worked in the Cowboys’ favor. Leading off in the third inning, OSU second baseman Hewitt launched a solo home run above the wall. In the top of the fourth, OSU made use of its power hitting again, this time with Caeden Trenkle’s three-run homer over the right-center-field fence, but OU responded with an RBI single in the fifth.
The Sooners and Cowboys each used six pitchers. OU senior reliever Luke Taggart threw a team-high seven strikeouts, including striking out the side in the fifth. He also allowed no runs, gave up two hits and walked only one batter.
Although relief pitchers kept the Cowboys and Sooners close, struggles on the mound created some chaos to start the game. OU leadoff batter Peyton Graham was hit in the head by a pitch from Standlee. Although Graham left the game with his head bleeding, the ESPNU broadcast crew later reported he was “alert and well” at a local hospital. Then another wild pitch made contact with the next batter, Crooks, who eventually slid into second but was called out when officials ruled it as interference. Crooks and Hewitt exchanged words at second base, adding a chippy element to the Bedlam rivalry.
But at the end of the rollercoaster game, Davis gave the Cowboys the ending they wanted. After giving up a two-run blast in OSU’s Game 2 loss, Davis was able to bounce back and strengthen his confidence.
“That’s a career-changing outing for a young pitcher to go out like that,” Holliday said. “He’ll have a belief in himself moving forward now that will be pretty hard to beat.”
