Cowboys Still Wear the Hat at Home over the Vaqueros 17-2
STILLWATER -- The temperature at first pitch was 48 degrees and the crowd at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium, the longtime home of the Cowboys to see the ballpark's final homer opener were bundled up. That straw Cowboy hat and the tradition started when right field Cade Cabbiness picked it up at a garage sale before last season was still around. Who would wear it first at home in 2020?I'll give you a clue, it was a newcomer and his home run was part of a fourth inning onslaught that pushed the No. 24 Cowboys to a 17-2 win over Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
The suspense was over early as freshman Justin Campbell may have put his pitching role on hold. The freshman from Simi Valley, Calf. crushed a pitch from Kevin Stevens and the ball cleared the right field fence and the UTRGV bullpen for a two-run homer run. The Cowboys led at that point 5-0, but were far from being through in the breakout inning. Campbell finished the game three-for-three with three RBIs.
"Justin is a talented kid and we've asked him to do a lot of things. He is a starting pitcher as you saw last weekend and he is a kid that can hit," head coach Matt Holliday said of his talented freshman. "He went through the fall and had some really good at bats, but we knew we had to keep him at the DH spot to protect his arm and make sure we weren't asking more than his arm can do as a pitcher. He gets his first start today, and boom, he hits a two-run homer."
Max Hewitt, who scored on the home run by Campbell had singled home Cabbiness, who started the inning with a double right-center.
Then Noah Sifrit tripled to deep center field, the first of two triples in the inning. Sifrit's three-bagger scored Hueston Morrill, who had singled. The bases kept spinning for the Cowboys, who ran off Stevens as he ended up being pegged for seven hits and six runs, all earned. John Henry Gonzalez came on in relief and he allowed five runs, including the secodn triple of the inning, this from pinch hitter Caeden Trenkle, who took Cabbiness spot the second time it was up in the inning.
In all, the Cowboys sent 14 hitters to the plate and scored nine runs to go ahead 11-0.
The Cowboys struck first in the bottom of the second when catcher Max Hewitt singled with a bloop off of UTRGV starter Kevin Stevens. Campbell followed with a line drive punched past the second baseman into right field and their were runners at first and second. Morrill helped the cause with a sacrifice bunt down the first base line moving Hewitt and Campbell into scoring position.
After Kaden Polcovish walked, Jake Thompson singled sharply to left field and Campbell jogged in for the 2-0 lead. The rally ended when clean-up hitter and first baseman Alix Garcia hit a deep drive to center but too much air and Coleman Grubbs caught it for out number three.
The Cowboys added three runs in the fifth, two runs in the seventh inning, and one more tally in the eighth. Oklahoma State finished with 19 hits to get the 17 runs. The Cowboys left-handed starter Parker Scott got his second win of the season to go 2-0. He went six innings and allowed just one hit, no runs, and walked two and struck out 10 Vaqueros.
"Parker did a good job and he is such a good pitcher," Holliday said. "You watch him continue to get his rhythm as the season progresses and he has four pitches he can throw. He wanted to work that last inning (sixth) and work on his slider."
The pressure was off early in this one after that nine-run fourth inning. No. 24 Oklahoma State is now 3-2 on the young season and they will play UTRGV on Saturday and Sunday with 1 p.m. starts both days.
Interestingly, as the season opened at Allie P. Reynolds just up the hill the new ballpark, O'Brate Stadium had the lights on and was shining in the night. Cowboys season ticket holders had been going in and out over there all day picking out their seats starting on March 20 for the big opener of the new park against TCU.
