Cougars on Wrong End of Pitching Duel

STILLWATER, Okla. – BYU baseball opened its three-game series at Oklahoma State with a 2-0 loss on Thursday.

“We faced a big-time arm tonight with his best stuff and it made life tough on our hitters,” BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. “Once again our pitching staff kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win; hopefully our hitters will show up one of these days and give them some run support. We just need to keep getting better and learn how to be tougher at the plate.”

Box Score

Game Summary

• Oklahoma State finally broke a scoreless tie with a bases-load sac fly in the seventh
• BYU pitchers combined to allow just four hits with six strikeouts
• The Cougars didn’t have a hit after the first inning

Player Highlights

• Austin Deming: 1-4
• Andrew Pintar: 1-4
• Justin Sterner: 4.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 5 K

A pitching battle between the two teams resulted in a scoreless game through six innings, with BYU pitcher Justin Sterner stranding two on base in each of the first three innings. In the third, the Cowboys attempted a suicide squeeze, but Sterner reacted quickly, flipping the ball straight from his glove to catcher Abraham Valdez to easily tag the runner out. An ensuing fly ball then ended the inning to keep the game scoreless.

In all, Sterner held Oklahoma State scoreless in his 4.1 innings pitched, giving up just three hits and striking out five.

The Cowboys finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh starting with a hit by pitch on a 1-2 count. After a walk and a bunt single loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly scored the game’s first run. Oklahoma State again loaded the bases after a second hit batter, then scored a second run on a wild pitch.

Five BYU pitchers held the Cowboys to just four hits; OSU came into the game batting .307 and averaging seven runs per game.

Austin Deming and Andrew Pintar had the only two hits for BYU with both coming in the first inning, with 19 strikeouts hindering the Cougar offense.

The Cougars and Cowboys will start game two on Friday, Mar. 6, at 4 p.m. CT on ESPN+, BYU Radio 107.9 FM and ESPN960 AM.