The Sam Houston Bearkats shocked the college baseball world as they defeated the No. 4 Oklahoma State Cowboys at Globe Life Field on Tuesday 6-3.
The Bearkats (4-1, 0-0) started senior right-handed pitcher Cole Wesneski on the mound after getting his first win of the season in the team’s first game of the season.
He went four clean innings only allowing three hits and one walk to a lineup that took a series against then No. 2 Vanderbilt University over the past weekend.
However, the Cowboys (2-2, 0-0) junior left-handed pitcher Mitchell Stone also went clean four innings against the Bearkat lineup.
The game was deadlocked at 0-0 as it was a pitching and defensive duel till the top of the 6th inning.
Redshirt senior catcher/first baseman Trent Touchet scored on a wild pitch caused by freshman left-handed pitcher Ryan Ure at the top of the 6th. This broke the tie giving the Bearkats a 1-0 lead.
The Cowboys offense however struck the next half of the inning as well to even it up. It was run-batted-in triple to center field by graduate first baseman Griffin Doersching to make it 1-1.
The scoring stopped there for now as it was deadlocked to the point the game went into extra innings. This would be the first extra-innings game for either team.
Bearkat senior closing pitcher Lance Lusk came into the game after the Cowboys led off the top of the eighth inning with a single. . He would be the one to send it to extra innings with two scoreless innings along with four strikeouts.
The Bearkats would then strike the Cowboys with a five-run 10th inning off of a string of hits to make it 6-1. Junior transfer outfielder Carlos Contreras got it started with a two-run single. Freshman catcher Walker Janek followed up with a two-run single of his own minutes later. It was finally rounded off with an RBI-double by redshirt junior utility player Brandon Pruitt.
Senior two-way player Tyler Davis would come on the mound the next half but left with a trainer after not getting an out and giving up a hit.
Junior right-handed pitcher Alex Havlicek would come on to replace Davis. Havlicek would give up a two-run home run to junior first baseman/catcher David Mendham in the next at bat that made it 6-3.
Havlicek was able to get the next three outs without more trouble to secure the victory and upset for the Bearkats over the No. 4 Cowboys.
Lusk would be awarded the win and Cowboy junior right-handed pitcher Roman Phansalkar took the loss.
Sophomore infielder Anthony MacKenzie and sophomore outfielder Clayton Chadwick both led the team with three hits.
The all-time series between these teams is now 2-2. This will be the first time Sam Houston defeated Oklahoma State since 1969. This would also be Bearkats first win against a top-5 opponent since defeating No. 5 Texas Tech University in 2017 and the highest ranked opponent since defeating No. 2 Texas A&M University back in 2016.
The Bearkats will play next on Friday, Feb. 25 in Dallas to begin a three-game series against the Dallas Baptist University Patriots. First pitch is scheduled at 6:30 p.m.
