What an opening day it was up in Arlington for the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament. We saw a total of four Big 12 games on Wednesday, and it was non-stop jam-packed action from morning until the late-night hours.
As we continue to make our way through the tourney, I have a few thoughts from the first full day of Big 12 baseball action. Here are the final scores from yesterday’s games.
#12 BYU: 2, #5 Arizona State: 0
#8 Cincinnati: 6, #9 Texas Tech: 5
#7 Oklahoma State: 4, #10 Baylor: 3
#11 Houston: 9, #6 Kansas State: 2
BYU’s Excellent Pitching
There wasn’t much offense to start the tournament thanks to the great pitching from BYU. Justis Reiser and Ashton Johnson were the only two pitchers BYU threw out there and they both were lights out. ‘
Resier and Johnson allowed just six total hits between them and didn’t give up a single run against a very good Arizona State lineup. It’s not often you see a team like Arizona State get shut out, but BYU just seemed to be in the right place at the right time because the Sun Devils couldn’t get the bats going.
Cincinnati Holds On
If you are looking for the best game of the day, then look no further than Cincinnati/Texas Tech. The Bearcats took a 4-1 lead going into the sixth inning before Texas Tech woke up with a solo home run by Robin Villeneuve to cut the lead in half.
Both teams would trade a score in the next two innings before Quinton Coats crushed one to left center to make it a three-run game again in the seventh.
However, Texas Tech wouldn’t go away quietly. Villeneuve knocked in another run for the Red Raiders in the eighth and Dylan Maxcey brought in another to make it a one-run game.
But in the end, Cincinnati held on for the 6-5 victory to advance to the quarterfinals. It was also very important for the Bearcats because a win on Thursday could secure a safe spot in the field of 64.
Oklahoma State Stays Alive
Coming into Wednesday, Oklahoma State was on thin ice. Prior to last weekend, the Cowboys were on the outside looking in when it came to the postseason picture. That all changed when they swept Arizona State.
While they were projected to get in, they were one of the few teams on the bubble so making an impression in Arlington was important. Despite being down 3-1 heading into the sixth inning, the Cowboys fought their way back.
Colin Bruggemann hit a sac-fly in the sixth before a throwing error later in the inning tied the game at three. And thanks to another Baylor error, Oklahoma State took the lead in the seventh inning and never looked back due to some solid pitching from Mario Pesca and Gabe Davis.
Houston’s Hot Offense
If there was one thing I didn’t see coming on Wednesday it was Houston’s offensive explosion. Coming into Arlington, the Cougars had the worst team batting average in conference play (.230) and hit a league low 19 home runs.
But on Wednesday the script was completely flipped for the Cougars. Brandon Bishop and Malachi Lott got the party started with a pair of hits.
And then Kenneth Jimenez and Connor McGinnis joined in as well to make it a 5-2 game.
Xavier Perez came up with some insurance runs with a pair of key hits before Evan Haeger put the icing on the cake in the eighth inning.
Thursday’s Schedule
#4 Arizona vs #12 BYU
#1 West Virginia vs #8 Cincinnati
#2 Kansas vs #7 Oklahoma State
#3 TCU vs #11 Houston
