Cowboys Get First Big 12 Win
STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State picked up its first Big 12 Conference win of the season Friday night with an 8-2 victory over Nebraska at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
Junior Thomas Keeling turned in an impressive performance on the mound to earn his first-ever win in Big 12 play, and five different Cowboys collected s as improved to 16-7 overall and 1-3 in the league.
Keeling got off to a rocky start as he hit two of the first three batters of the game and walked the other to load the bases with no outs in the top of the first. But he retired the next three Cornhuskers to get out of the inning unscathed.
From that point on, the southpaw was nearly unhittable. In 7.1 shutout innings, Keeling allowed just four hits while tying a season high with 11 strikeouts. It was his second 11-strikeout performance of the season and just one shy of his career high.
OSU’s offense got on the scoreboard in the third when a two-out double by Mark Ginther plated Dusty Harvard to give the Cowboys a 1-0 lead.
The Cowboys added to that lead in the fourth. Nico Rosthenhausler led off the inning with a single and stole second, and Dane Phillips brought him home with a double. Up next, Luis Uribe blasted an opposite-field home run over the wall in right to put up by a 4-0 count.
With his teammates providing run support, Keeling cruised. He struck out at least one batter in each of the eight innings in which he appeared and recorded multiple strikeouts in the second, third and seventh innings.
added two runs in both the seventh and eighth innings, while Nebraska’s lone runs came in the ninth on a two-run home run by Adam Bailey off Cowboy reliever Ian McCarthy.
Michael Mariot suffered the loss for NU (14-12, 2-5) as the right-hander allowed eight runs on 11 hits to fall to 2-4 on the season.
The middle game of the series is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
Updated 04-03-2010
READER COMMENTS
