Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Wichita State used a pair of big home runs to sprint to a 7-0 lead and never looked back, defeating #16 Oklahoma State 13-6 on Tuesday night at O'Brate Stadium.
The win is the Shockers first in Stillwater since 2018 and snaps an eight-game losing streak against the Cowboys.
A native Oklahoman helped the Shockers land the first punch of the game. In the top of the first, Payton Tolle cranked a towering two-run home run down the right field line, staking Wichita State (17-11) to a quick 2-0 advantage against Oklahoma State starter Ryan Bogusz (0-1).
Three innings later, the Shockers exploded for five runs against the Cowboys bullpen. Kyte McDonald started the barrage with an RBI single, scoring Mauricio Millan for a 3-0 lead. With two outs, Jack Little was hit by a pitch and Chuck Ingram coaxed a walk to set the stage for Brock Rodden with the bases loaded. On the first pitch he saw from reliever Brennan Phillips, Rodden skied a drive to dead-center that carried just beyond the wall for a grand slam and a 7-0 lead.
The Cowboys (22-8) did not go quietly, answering with three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning to slice the margin to 7-3. Oklahoma State nearly tied the game in the sixth, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4 and putting two on with two out against WSU's Nate Snead. Snead induced a fly ball from David Mendham that McDonald caught at the top of the wall in left-center, preserving the lead heading to the seventh.
The Shockers offense tacked on two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth to put the game out of reach. David Herring rapped an RBI single to score the first run, and Mauricio Millan raced home on a wild pitch to restore WSU's lead to 9-4. Garrett Pennington knocked in two with an eighth inning single, followed by a run-scoring double from Millan and another Herring RBI single that swelled the lead to 13-4.
Oklahoma State got two in the eighth, but Cameron Bye slammed the door with two strikeouts over his 1.1 innings of relief to secure the win.
Tolle, Millan, Herring and Little each recorded two hits, with Millan adding three walks to reach base in all five of his at-bats.
Shocker starter Matt Boyer (1-0) earned the win in a predetermined split, tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The combination of Boyer, Jace Miner, Robert Cranz, Snead and Bye allowed just two earned runs on the night.
Wichita State returns to conference play on Thursday, hosting Houston. First pitch from Eck Stadium is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
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