Oklahoma State defeated Texas Tech 7-2 in the Big 12 Championship opener Wednesday night at Globe Life Field.
With the win, the 17th-ranked Cowboys improve to 37-16 while TTU drops to 32-25. OSU, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will face No. 8 seed UCF in a winners’ bracket Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Carson Benge earned the win on the mound and showed why he is one of the top two-way players in college baseball by going 3-for-5 at bats and scoring two runs at the plate.
Benge pitched 6 1/3 innings, striking out a career-high 10 batters while allowing just one earned run and three hits. With the win, he improves to 3-1 on the season.
Zach Ehrhardt hit a home run and collected three RBIs to lead the Cowboys’ offense, while Robert Krantz held the Red Raiders scoreless and struck out four over the final two innings to secure the win.
OSU took an early lead in its first at-bat. Following Benji’s double, Erhard hit his 12th home run of the season into the left field seats, giving the Pokes a 2-0 lead.
The Cowboys added to their lead with runs in the fifth and sixth innings as Benge prevented TTU from scoring.
In the fifth inning, Benge again led off with a hit, then walked Erhardt and Nolan Shubert to load the bases, and on his third walk of the inning, Ian Dougherty was walked, scoring an RBI and bringing in a run.
OSU took advantage of the free bases again in the sixth inning, when Lane Forsythe walked with one out and Venge followed with a single to put the Cowboys on the corners. Forsythe scored on a wild pitch to make the score 4-0.
After Benji recorded his 10th strikeout in the top of the seventh inning, Cade McGee reached base on an error and Gavin Kash hit a two-run home run, cutting OSU’s lead in half.
However, OSU re-extended its lead in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Red Raiders failed to throw strikes. With the Cowboys’ bases loaded, he walked twice and scored on a wild pitch that gave him a 7-2 lead.
