Redshirt Freshman shuts down Mountaineer bats in Big 12 Championship

The No. 13 Oklahoma State Cowboys (36-18) had to play their semifinal game Sunday morning against TCU, where they won in the bottom of the 10^th inning 7-6 before beating the No. 18 West Virginia Mountaineers (37-20)  5-2 to in the Big 12 Championship game inside Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark Sunday afternoon.

WVU had some opportunities to put runs on the board but came away with just one run in the game, while a little bit of controversy produced the Cowboys three-run inning.

West Virginia put the first run on the board when TJ Lake started things off with a single up the middle, followed by back-to-back bunts from Tevin Tucker and Tyler Doanes to load the bases. Brandon White hit into a 6-4-3 double play but brought in Lake from third for the RBI.

West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey flipped the ball back to Nick Snyder after he opened the Big 12 Tournament against Kansas on Wednesday and had three commanding innings. He tossed seven strikeouts and allowed a hit to Collin Simpson before Mazey called in Madison Jeffrey to take over. Jeffrey went 1-2-3, closing the inning with a strikeout.

Jeffrey got in a jam in the fifth, but a controversial call would help the Cowboys. With one out and on a full count, Jake Taylor took a swing and what appeared to be a strike three out, after an appeal to first, the umpire called a foul ball that at bat alive. Taylor drew a walk on the next pitch.

Madison struck out the next batter, which should have been the third out, but hit the next batter on the first pitch and four straight balls loaded the bases with two outs.

Mazey went back to his bullpen for Zach Reid and he proceeded to walk the tying run on four-straight pitches. Then Andrew Navigato doubled off the left field wall, scoring two more runs, but as Colin Simpson was rounding third, Brandon White tracked the ball and gunned down Simpson at the plate to end the inning.

The Mountaineers squandered another opportunity to put runs on the board in the eighth. WVU began the inning with the top of the order due up at the plate and put two on with nobody out.

That ended Oklahoma State redshirt freshman and starting pitcher Brett Sandlee’s day. He finished the day with three strikeouts and gave up one run on seven hits.

Cowboys head coach Josh Holiday brought in Brad Basso and got Darius Hill hit to into a double play before Holiday went to Peyton Battenfield to end the inning on Marcus Inman fly out to right field.

Oklahoma State added two more runs in the bottom of the eight on just three hits to give the Cowboys a 5-1 lead heading into the ninth.

The Mountaineers produced a run on a lead-off double from Paul McIntosh as he made his way around the bases on a couple sacrifice grounders as the Cowboys shut down any chance of a WVU rally and won the Big 12 Championship 5-2.

West Virginia awaits to see if they will host an NCAA regional for the first time in program history.