Photo Courtesy of Big12
Arlington, Texas – In the second elimination game on Friday at Globe Life Field, the No. 2 seed Oklahoma State University Cowboys knocked off the No. 10 Texas Tech University Red Raiders with a 4-0 shutout win.
Cowboys senior southpaw starting Sam Garcia pitched lights out against the Texas Tech offense and gemmed eight innings, no walks, allowing three hits, eight strikeouts, 11 flyouts, and five groundouts.
“Ian is great. I mean, he has everything I wanted in a good catcher. He has experience and very good baseball knowledge. Me and him have really good chemistry. He knows what to fix for everything because thatʼs pretty much pitching. If you make mistakes, you have to know how to fix it, and there are many mistakes you can make,” Garcia complementing his starting catcher Ian Daughtery during the postgame press conference.
Garcia retired 17 out of 18 batters from the top of the third inning until he was taken out of the game after the top of the eighth inning on Friday.
“We have a really good relationship in that I can make those quick pitch adjustments. With his help, our defense has been unbelievable behind me. Our familiarity and how I work with everybody has been really helpful,” Garcia said.
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 19 in the country heading into the final week of the 2024 season.
Oklahoma State did not get their first run of the game until the bottom of the first inning, when designated hitter Kolin Ritchie doubled to right field, scoring shortstop Lane Forsythe to go up 1-0.
Texas Tech starting pitcher Tyler Parish entered the bottom of the seventh inning after settling down the rest of the way until he gave up two hits with a double to left field from Oklahoma State third baseman Tyler Wulfert to lead off the inning and a single to left field to first baseman Colin Brueggemann.
Texas Tech head coach Tim Tadlock came out to the dugout and called on relief pitcher Brendan Lysik to replace Parish during the bottom of the seventh.
“My goal was just to give my team a chance to win the baseball game. It didn’t matter how many strikeouts I had, whatever it took, I just wanted to have a chance to win this game today. And I felt like my mindset on the mound was on around three pitches. And I felt like I executed some today and missed some as well, and those hurt us to lead off the seventh. I gave up a double down the third baseline that hurt us a little bit but overall I just wanted to give my team a chance to win,” Parish said during the post-game press conference.
Parish threw six innings and allowed five hits, two earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts while facing 22 batters, dialing 50 strikes on 84 pitches.
A few moments after Parish was taken out of the game, Forsythe knocked an RBI single into right-center field, scoring Wulfert and extending the lead to 2-0.
The Cowboys put the tape stamp on the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, when left fielder Nolan Schubart crushed a two-run home run over the left-center field wall to make it 4-0.
Holliday went to his bullpen in the top of the ninth inning and called on relief pitcher Robert Cranz and got Red Raiders catcher Kevin Bazzell to fly out to center fielder Zach Ehrhard for the final out of the game to win 4-0 and to keep their conference title hopes alive.
Texas Tech ended the 2024 regular season with a record of 33-26 and a conference record of 12-17.
“We’ve really appreciated the way the guys have gone about it the whole year. They really do have a passion to play, got a passion for their preparation and can’t fault them for their effort. I really can’t. I mean, these guys have shown up every day. We just hadn’t put it all together through the year.” Tadlock said during the post-game press conference.
Texas Tech is ranked 55th on their RPI in the final week of the regular season.
The Red Raiders program will have to wait until Selection Monday to see if they make the 64-team field for the 2024 NCAA Division I College Baseball Championship Selection Show on ESPN2 at 12 p.m. EST on May 27.
Oklahoma State won in the semifinal of their second game of the fourth day at the 2024 Big 12 Conference tournament 10-1 to the No. 8 seed University of Central Florida Golden Knights at Globe Life Field.
Oklahoma State will play the Oklahoma Sooners for the first time in the Big 12 Conference tournament since they joined in 1997.
The Big 12 Conference championship game will be played between in-state rivals, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State at Globe Life Field on May 25 at 7 p.m. EST on ESPNU.
