What a day it was up in Sunrise, Arizona, for day three of the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament. We saw a total of four Big 12 games on Thursday, and it was nonstop, jam-packed action from morning until late-night hours.
As we continue to make our way through the tourney, I have a few thoughts from the day full of Big 12 baseball action. Here are the final scores from yesterday’s games.
#5 Oklahoma State: 12; #4 UCF: 6
#1 Kansas: 8; #8 Baylor: 7
#2 West Virginia: 4; #11 Kansas State: 2
#3 Arizona State: 10; #6 Cincinnati: 2
Oklahoma State’s Offense Continues to Rake
If there’s one thing you can count on when it comes to Oklahoma State, it’s that they are going to hit the ball well. And that held true yet again in the Big 12 Conference baseball tournament.
The Cowboys put up a whopping 12 runs on the UCF Knights, which is very impressive considering they were facing one of the best pitching staffs in the conference. It took a few innings, but once the offense caught fire, they couldn’t be stopped as they scored 7 of their 12 runs in the final two innings.
Star slugger Colin Brueggeman led the way with a team-high four RBIs on the day as the Cowboys finished with 12 hits in this game. Now with a game against Kansas looming, Oklahoma State will once again need a big game from its bats to have a chance in that one.
Kansas Almost Blew It
For the first seven innings of this game, it was a complete blowout. Kansas led Baylor by six runs heading into the eighth inning, and I thought the Bears had no chance to make a comeback.
But boy was I wrong about Baylor. Instead of just rolling over and packing up, the Bears scored four runs in the eighth inning and ended up tying the game at seven thanks to a clutch two-run double by Pearson Riebock.
Luckily for the Jayhawks, they were able to have their own clutch moment in extras as Savion Flowers walked it off with his solo blast to deep right field. It’s not often we see a meltdown from the Kansas pitching staff, but I must give credit to Baylor for putting up a fight. Maybe that is exactly what this Kansas team needed before facing Oklahoma State on Friday.
West Virginia’s Pitching Shined
Although the offense gave them a four-run cushion, I came away very impressed with West Virginia’s pitching in their game against Kansas State. Maxx Yehl took the mound against a formidable offense and was able to go six and one-third innings, giving up just two runs while striking out seven batters.
Then Ian Korn came in to take over in the sixth and completely dominated. Korn gave up just one hit during his save and struck out five of the nine batters he faced. We already know this team can hit, but when they pitch like this, then they can win this tournament.
Arizona State Dominated
Out of all the games on Thursday, this was the only one that was never really close. The Sun Devils jumped out to a 2-1 right away in the first inning after Dominic Smaldino hit a two-run blast.
Then the Sun Devils added five more runs over the next three innings to take a 7-1 lead before Matt Polk homered to make it 8-1. Cincy would add one to the board in the eighth, but Arizona State answered right back with two more in the bottom of that same inning.
Those bats stayed hot throughout the game, and between Kole Klecker and Taylor Penn, the two combined for seven innings of one-run ball while striking out 10 batters. Cincinnati never stood a chance in this one.
