OSU Baseball: Cowboys Win Fifth Straight

Oklahoma State pushed its winning streak to five Saturday as the Cowboys routed Prairie View A&M, 12-0, at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
 
Five Cowboy pitchers combined for the shutout, which was OSU's second in a row and seventh of the season, as coach Josh Holliday's ballclub improved to 30-15 on the season.
 
Jensen Elliott picked up his team-leading seventh victory on the mound as the freshman right-hander improved to 7-2 with the help of an offense that collected 15 hits and saw four different Cowboys – J.R. Davis, Garrett Benge, Dustin Williams and Ryan Sluder – record two RBIs apiece.
 
"When you come out and go through a day when your pitching staff throws a shutout, your defense plays clean and you put together a pretty good offensive output throughout, that's a good output for us," Holliday said. "Process-wise, we were able to attack them with some speed on the bases, build some innings with a couple of guys stinging some balls in the gap and a few guys collecting multiple base hits…
 
"It goes back to evaluating yourself and trying to get better. We did some things pretty well, and we definitely have some things to work on. But you're never going to complain about winning 12-0… Mission accomplished, and we'll continue to play pitch-to-pitch regardless of the score and the opponent."
 
OSU scored twice in its first at bat, getting a sacrifice fly from Donnie Walton and an RBI single from Benge to take control early.
 
The Cowboys added a run to their lead in the third on another RBI hit by Benge, this one an opposite-field triple, before rallying for three runs in the fourth to take a 6-0 advantage.
 
Colin Simpson got things started in the fourth with a leadoff walk, and Williams followed by crushing a two-run home run over the wall in center field, a blast that was the Cowboy first baseman's Big 12-leading 10thof the season. Later in the inning, Corey Hassel would collect an RBI with a double.
 
OSU tallied two runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings as seven different Cowboys recorded RBIs in the contest.
 
Elliott worked 5 1/3 innings and struck out four to pick up the win, with Michael Mertz, Carson Teel, Joe Lienhard and Tyler Buffett taking the mound and helping finish off the shutout.
 
Sluder's three hits paced the OSU attack as he finished 3-for-4 at the plate, while Davis, Hassel and Benge were each 2-for-4 in the contest.
 
The two teams are scheduled to conclude the series Sunday at 1 p.m.