Teel dominates as Cowboys take Bedlam opener
STILLWATER — The last time Oklahoma State and Oklahoma met for a conference baseball game at either school’s home venue, Cowboys coach Josh Holliday was an OSU freshman, coaching legend Gary Ward was in his final season at OSU, and Carson Teel was 4 months old.
Teel, an OSU lefthander and Stillwater native, dominated his hometown team’s rival in the first conference Bedlam baseball game at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium since 1996, pitching eight shutout innings in the Cowboys’ 8-0 victory to open the threegame Bedlam series. With a sellout crowd of 4,121 watching, Teel had a career-high 12 strikeouts while coming an inning shy of his third complete game in four starts.
Teel received early run support as Oklahoma right-hander Jake Irving surrendered a home run in each of the first three innings. Shortstop Matt Kroon cranked a home run to left field in the first. Cade Cabbiness, whose parents attended OU, delivered a pinchhit, two-run shot in the second, and Colin Simpson hit a laser over the right-field wall in the third for his 13th home run, matching Texas’ Kody Clemens for the Big 12 lead.
The way Teel pitched, Kroon’s shot alone was enough. Teel struck out six of eight Sooners from the fourth through sixth innings, striking out four in a row at one point. He didn’t allow an OU base runner to touch second base until Brylie Ware’s one-out double in the seventh. He retired the next five batters before Steele Walker began the ninth with a single. The Sooners’ fifth hit ended Teel’s night after 120 pitches.
Jon Littell, who along with Teel led Stillwater High School to a state title in 2014, knocked Irving from the game with a double to begin the sixth. The Cowboys posted a fourspot in the frame thanks to a span of five straight players reaching, capped with Ryan Cash’s two-run single.
A victory Friday would improve the Cowboys to 19-6 in Bedlam since Holliday became their coach ahead of the 2013 season, including a 7-1 victory in a nonconference matchup March 27 in Norman. OSU entered the series atop the Big 12 with a 12-3 conference record. OU was tied for third in the conference at 10-5.
The teams will complete the series with games Saturday and Sunday at Tulsa’s ONEOK Field. Friday’s game was originally scheduled to be played at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, but a scheduling conflict with the Oklahoma City Dodgers sent the series opener to Stillwater. Next season, the teams will have a nonconference game in Stillwater, as well as a Big 12 series May 10-12, 2019, with successive games at ONEOK Field, Bricktown Ballpark and OU’s L. Dale Mitchell Park.