For Immediate Release | June 1, 2024 | Contact: Wade McWhorter (wade.mcwhorter@okstate.edu)
Cowboy Baseball Advances To Regional Final
STILLWATER – Brian Holiday threw a complete game to lead top-seeded Oklahoma State to a 7-1 win over No. 3-seed Florida in the winner’s bracket game of the NCAA Stillwater Regional Saturday night O’Brate Stadium.
With the win, the 12th-ranked Cowboys improved to 42-17 and advance to the Regional final Sunday at 6 p.m. Florida fell to 29-28 and will face No. 2-seed Nebraska in an elimination game Sunday.
Holiday was dominant in improving to 7-3 on the season. The right-hander recorded his second-straight complete game and third of the season, striking out 10 while allowing just one run and two hits. It was Holiday’s sixth double-digit strikeout performance of the season.
The Cowboys tallied five home runs in the game, the sixth time hitting that mark on the season. OSU now has 118 homers on the year, its most in a season since the 1999 College World Series team hit 132 bombs.
Nolan Schubart led the way with a pair of home runs, reaching 23 on the season. It marks the most by a Cowboy since Lamont Matthews had 30 homers in 1999.
Carson Benge, Zach Ehrhard and Aidan Meola also went deep for the Pokes against UF.
The Cowboys had an electric start with back-to-back homers in the first inning. Schubart stepped up and delivered a two-out, 475-foot shot to right field for his 22nd bomb of the season, and Ehrhard followed by smoking a ball over the wall in left for his 14th of the year to make the score 2-0.
The trend continued in the third frame as OSU hit back-to-back bombs for the second time. Benge hammered a ball to left-center field for his 18th homer of the season, and Schubart stepped up and hit his second home run of the contest and his team-high 23rd of the season; the four solo shots gave the Pokes a 4-0 lead after three.
Holiday heated up as the game went on, notching two strikeouts in the fifth. He picked up a strikeout in every frame except the sixth.
Schubart started the seventh with a walk, setting up a Meola two-run shot to left field, his 10th bomb of the season. Meola is the sixth Cowboy this season to reach the 10 home run mark. A hit by pitch and another walk allowed Avery Ortiz to record an RBI single, stretching the lead to seven.
Holiday continued his shutout in the eighth frame by retiring the side in order for the fourth time in the contest.
Florida scored its only run to break up the shutout when Jac Caglianone hit a home run to lead off the ninth, but Holiday picked up his final two strikeouts to close out the game for the Pokes.
