Baseball Drops Game Two to Oklahoma State, 3-1Baseball Drops Game Two to Oklahoma State, 3-1

Baseball Drops Game Two to Oklahoma State, 3-1

by James Warnick
Box Score

STILLWATER, Okla. – UCF starter Russell Sandefer went a season-long 6.1 innings and Andrew Williamson homered in the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough as Oklahoma State scored a pair of late runs to pull out a 3-1 victory on Saturday night at O’Brate Stadium.

The Cowboys (21-21, 9-11 Big 12) clinched the league series with the victory. The Knights (24-22, 6-17 Big 12) will look to salvage a game on the weekend in the series finale on Sunday afternoon.

With both starting pitchers looking strong in the early innings, the Pokes managed to manufacture a run in the last of the third to take a 1-0 lead.

After allowing the run in the third, Sandefer responded by retiring the Cowboys in order in the fourth and striking out the side in the fifth. He followed that up by pitching around an error in the sixth to keep it a one-run game.

After being stranded on the base paths offensively a couple of times, the Black and Gold offense broke through in the top of the seventh with a leadoff solo home run from Andrew Williamson to deep right-center field to deadlock the score. The round tripper marked Williamson’s team-leading ninth of the season.

OSU responded in the bottom of the seventh with a pair of runs, however, to take a 3-1 advantage. With runners on the corners and one away, Brock Thompson singled home a run and Drew Culbertson followed with an RBI single of his own to give the Pokes the two-run lead.

After a scoreless eighth, the Knights got the leadoff man aboard in the top of the ninth thanks to a single from DeAmez Ross. He later moved to second on a passed ball and over the third on a wild pitch, but was stranded as OSU’s Gabe Davis retired the next three batters he faced to end the ballgame.

Oklahoma State starter Mario Pesca earned the win to move to 4-2 after allowing just one run on four hits while striking out five over 7.1 innings. Davis recorded his first save of the year after tossing a scoreless 1.1 innings. Sandefer was the tough-luck loser to drop to 2-3 on the season. He tied a season-high in strikeouts with eight and went a season-long 6.1 innings. Dominic Castellano and Dom Stagliano then came on to pitch the final inning and two-thirds and didn’t allow an earned run.

Williamson led the Knights offensively by going 2-for-4 with a pair of extra-base hits—a double and a homer—and had an RBI and a run scored. Ian Daugherty had two hits for OSU while Thompson, Culbertson and Alex Conover all drove in runs.   

The Knights and Cowboys will close the series on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. Following Sunday’s series finale, the Black and Gold will continue the trip with a midweek game at Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT in Springfield, Missouri.