Oklahoma State Baseball Takes Care Of Wichita State

It was a game with no end. At least it seemed that way on Wednesday night when the Oklahoma State Cowboys beat the Wichita State Shockers 8-3 at Allie P. Reynolds stadium and took three hours to do it.

Although Cowboy pitcher Remey Reed looked strong, allowing only two hits in three innings and striking out two, he said he didn't have his best stuff.

"I didn't have my best stuff today," Reed said. "I was just trying to locate the ball, keep it down hill. But my defense did some good stuff behind me, Chappell made a couple of good plays, Tim made a couple good plays."

Third baseman Kevin Bradley helped Reed out in the second inning with an RBI single to shallow right field to give the Cowboys (17-7 overall, 2-1 in Big 12) a 1-0 lead.

Bradley, the seventh hitter in the lineup, would later bring in two more runs and score one himself.

The play from the sophomore earned Bradley high praise from OSU coach Josh Holliday after the game.

"Kevin did a really good job, we set the table for him and he delivered." Holliday said. "Guys got on base, we got them in position for him and boom, he put the swings together that gave us those first three runs I think.

"You know the seven hole is kind of like a second cleanup hitter, you got to have someone in the seven that can knock in all the guys that get on base in the four, five and six. So to have a good lineup the seven needs to be a guy capable of going out there and cleaning up the bases and Kevin's done a good job down there."

Cowboy pitchers Reed and Trey Cobb kept the Shockers (11-12 overall, 3-0 MVC) scoreless for the first six innings.

But after Cobb was taken out, Garrett Williams came in and allowed the first two runs of the game, making it 5-2 in the top of the seventh.

Thankfully for the Cowboys, it has a deep bullpen and can trust if one guy has a down night, someone else can pick up the slack.

The guy picking up the slack on Wednesday was sophomore pitcher Tyler Buffett, who came in and worked his way out of a bases loaded jam.

"I mean he's (Buffett) called on to do that all the time," Bradley said. "I know everyone on the team has a lot of trust in Tyler and he comes in and does a good job."

The lead was stretched back to five in the bottom half of the seventh, all but sealing the win for the Cowboys until pitcher Carson LaRue came in to close it out in the final inning.

The Cowboys also were able to see junior infielder Donnie Walton, who has missed 19 games this season back on the field.

"Donnie's doing good," Holliday said. "He's progressing back nicely and we're bringing him along what we think is a good, smart way to integrate him back to full play, just bring him a long the way we are until he feels 100 percent.

"And when he feels 100 percent we'll get him back out there. He's certainly a big part of our team."