Alex Hackerott Comes In Clutch For Oklahoma State In Missouri State Win

"Strike three, you're out!"

That's something the Missouri State batters got used to hearing once Oklahoma State pitcher Alex Hackerott came onto the mound.

After an uncharacteristic outing for sophomore pitcher Trey Cobb in which he allowed a home run to Missouri State, the Cowboys lead was cut down to 4-2.

OSU coach Holliday called on his bullpen, a known strength for the team. This time the call was for Hackerott, a junior left handed pitcher.

Hackerott immediately came in the game and struck out the first batter he faced, forced a shallow fly ball the second, and struck out the third to stop the bleeding before it got out of control.

Although impressive, coach Holliday was not surprised, saying it was something Hackerott has done before.

"[Hackerott] did a good job," coach Holliday said. "That was very good to see, he's very capable, and we know that. He's pitched a lot of good innings in two years here so good to see."

After the first inning Hackerott continued his dominance, forcing another three straight outs, including one strike out, retiring all six batters he faced.

It was certainly something special for the crowd of 1,212, which got to see this year's team for the first time in person. But Hackerott said nothing too special went into his performance other than just him hitting his spots.

"I didn't do anything special tonight, but this whole year I've been working on getting on top of the ball," Hackerott said. "I did that better tonight than I have in the past few outings and that helped me."

Although Cobb didn't have his best outing, the bullpen is something the Cowboys take pride in. Second basemen Tim Arakawa said it's something they look to expose in the opposing teams.

"We always like to get in peoples pins because we feel the other teams pen isn't as strong as ours," Arakawa said. "So that's always the other teams weakness so it's just kind of a second wind when we get into their pen and we got into their pen and were able to scratch across another few runs."

Hackerott was credited with the win, his first of the year, giving the No. 10 Cowboys its fourth win in a row.