‘Remarkable’ day of rallies for Cowboys
STILLWATER — Oklahoma State coach Josh Holliday sat down at the table in front of a microphone exhausted both mentally and physically.
Just like everybody else involved in the Stillwater Regional.
And he searched for words to describe the most chaotic day across the country in the NCAA Tournament.
“That's probably the most remarkable day of competition I've ever been associated with, from the time we got here until now,” Holliday said. “Remarkable.
“I've never seen a group of people empty the tank pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch after pitch, starting this morning from the time they got here until now. It was remarkable.”
The Cowboys, seeded seventh nationally, played nearly 10 hours of baseball for 19 total innings Sunday, completed multiple comebacks and still have one more game left in this wacky round of the tournament.
They were the Cardiac Cowboys. OSU first rallied from a 12-run deficit to eliminate Missouri State 29-15. Then they topped that craziness with a wild 1410 win in 10 innings over Arkansas that forced a win-or-go home regional final at O'Brate Stadium.
That rematch is at 6 p.m. Monday. Only one question remained Sunday night.
How?
“Just try to keep it fun,” OSU sophomore Nolan McLean said. “Days like today are what you dream about growing up. When it finally starts to happen, you're just trying to have fun with each other and create memories.”
McLean completed the day in the most memorable way.
He was unable to hold a 10-8 lead on the mound in the bottom of the ninth against the Razorbacks, around 24 hours after he struggled in a bases-loaded situation against the same team.
But in extra innings, McLean hit a moon-shot two-run home run to left — his second blast of the day — that put the Cowboys ahead 14-10.
Then he closed out the game in the 10th.
“He is tougher than nails,” Holliday said.
So are the rest of the Cowboys. They got mammoth pitching performances, first from reliever Trevor Martin against Missouri State. He tied a program record with 16 strikeouts in 6 2⁄ innings of
3 work while throwing 126 pitches. He stabilized a game that first appeared to be the zaniest of the day.
Then 6-foot-9 veteran lefty Mitchell Stone grinded into the seventh inning against Arkansas, holding its powerful offense to five runs on 11 hits and three walks. He struck out seven.
When he left the mound, he received a standing ovation as he got emotional in perhaps his last appearance with OSU.
“I'm just happy we won the game,” Stone said. “It just goes to show how whenever you keep fighting and keep punching you got a chance to win anything or do anything.”
The Cowboys looked down and out early in the day.
Missouri State was up 12-0 after three innings. But the mood never changed in the dugout. OSU believed when few outside of the program did.
And the momentum just carried. After the 5-hour, 1-minute game that broke an NCAA record for combined runs, OSU got a 55-minute break and then continued hitting.
David Mendham homered as the Cowboys scored three runs in the second off Roland graduate Jaxon Wiggins. Their lead increased to 5-2 with a two-run homer in the fourth from Roc Riggio, who was the spark plug all day going 8 for 15 with two homers, three doubles, 10 RBIs and five runs scored.
Griffin Doersching made it 6-2 with his second homer of the day, this time a missile to the OSU bullpen in left field.
After Arkansas closed the gap to a run in the sixth, the Cowboys kept finding ways to score. They took advantage of two errors by pitcher Evan Taylor, leading to a sacrifice fly by Chase Adkison to lead 7-5.
But in the name of chaos, Razorbacks catcher Michael Turner added to it with a go-ahead two-run homer with two outs in the eighth off OSU's Roman Phansalkar.
Not to be outdone in the madness, OSU retook the lead in the ninth against Arkansas ace Connor Noland — who pitched seven innings Friday night — when Mendham doubled to left as Arkansas left fielder Zack Gregory fell and ball rolled to the wall, scoring two runs. Marcus Brown later drove in Mendham with a double for a 10-8 lead.
But Arkansas forced extra innings on a two-out, two-run single by Brady Slavens off McLean.
Then the Cowboys finally put a stop to the madness in extra innings with a fourrun outburst that featured a two-run, goahead single by freshman Aidan Meola and was capped off by McLean's homer.
Just in two games Sunday, the Cowboys scored 43 runs, hit seven homers, walked 26 times, collected 41 hits and never had a moment without drama.
“They had an amazing day,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “I don't know if I've ever seen that many runs scored in a day.”
Perhaps it's the regional.
In the last three games combined, OSU, Missouri State and Arkansas have combined for 100 runs. Thirty-nine home runs have been hit across the six games. And it's not over.
Just embrace the chaos. There likely won't be another weekend quite like this.
“They're resilient,” Holliday said about his team. “They're tough kids. Everybody gets all up in arms about (Saturday's) game. I'm glad my players don't react like everybody else does. Really glad.
“I'm super proud of them. I can't see what they got for us tomorrow.”