Published: May 11, 2008 01:07 am            

Oklahoma State wins series against Texas Tech

STLLWATER, Okla. — As Saturday proved, Oklahoma State baseball isn’t a one-man show.

It’s more like a 10-man show.

The 10th-ranked Cowboys received all-around contribution as they routed Texas Tech, 13-3, in front of 1,407 fans at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium to claim their eighth straight Big 12 victory.

OSU, which clinched its fifth consecutive conference series, got at least two hits apiece from its top eight batters in the lineup and though nine-hole hitter Tyrone Hambly went 0-for-2, he posted a pair of RBIs courtesy of a sacrifice bunt and a sacrifice fly.

“Whenever you got everybody hitting all over the place, you get loose and laid back and it’s real fun,” said senior Rebel Ridling. “One of the big things is our dugout — when they stay lively, it carries over to the guys on the field and things go a lot better.”

A two-run home run by junior Donnie Webb, a former Stillwater High standout, and an RBI double by freshman Dean Green helped the Cowboys (37-13, 16-7) — who were hitless until the third inning — jump out to a 4-0 advantage.

The Red Raiders narrowed the gap to 4-1 in the fourth as Chris Richburg reached home on an error, but O-State put the contest out of reach with six runs in the fifth including a three-run homer by Ridling, who leads the squad with 13 round-trippers.

“I thought it separated us right there and gave us a little comfort zone we didn’t have,” said OSU coach Frank Anderson. “That was good for (Ridling) because he’s been scuffling a little bit.”

Ridling finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs, Belza and senior Matt Hague each went 3-for-5 with a double, and sophomore Neil Medchill went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and a solo homer in the eighth. Webb, who has posted a club-best 13 stolen bases this season, also went 2-for-5 with his team-leading 18th double.

“(Webb) just battles and it’s not always pretty but he’s in there competing,” Anderson said. “He’s done a good job (as OSU’s leadoff hitter). He’s not a great bunter, but he can go from first to third very well and probably as well as anybody we got.”

On the mound, sophomore Tyler Lyons hurled six innings — allowing seven hits, a pair of earned runs and a walk while striking out six — and improved to 9-2. He leads OSU this year in wins, complete games (three) and innings pitched (85) and is second in strikeouts (73).

“It’s kind of like Tiger Woods on damage control,” Anderson said. “(Lyon’s) driving into the woods but still ending up getting par out of the deal. ... Tyler again was kind of on damage control (Saturday) but he made some good pitches when he had to.”

Lyons added, “It’s always nice to go out there when you have run support. It gives you a little room for error but by the same token, you still want to go out there and shut them down.”

Junior Matt Peck threw the final three innings and allowed just one hit and no runs to pick up his fifth save of 2008.

For TTU (21-28, 6-17), which is now assured of suffering its first losing season since 1987, Chad Bettis earned the loss after giving up 14 hits and 12 runs in five innings of work. Richburg and Willie Rueda each went 2-for-4.

“I feel like we’re back to playing pretty good,” Ridling said. “It’s not like we got off track too far, I just think as far as the mental side of it, we came out more prepared (Saturday) and the results showed. ... Everybody’s going to be coming for us and nothing’s going to be easy.”



Ryan Steele writes for the Stillwater (Okla.) NewsPress.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.