Oklahoma State drops South Carolina 5-1; One win away from CWS

The Oklahoma State Cowboys baseball team is one win away from advancing to the College World Series, and erasing the painful memories assoiated with football and basketball season, after a 5-1 win over South Carolina.

Thomas Hatch, who was recently drafted in the third round by the Chicago Cubs, got the start for the Pokes and was as good as advertised. Hatch pitched 7.0 scoreless innings, completely shutting down the Gamecocks lineup.

The Cowboys were held scoreless offensively until the top of the third inning, when Ryan Sluder crushed a baseball to left field to put OSU up 1-0. Here’s that home run:

But the Cowboys weren’t fiished, as Corey Hassel delivered a two-out RBI single to score J.R. Davis to make it 2-0.

Hatch faced the minimum through three innings, but ran into some trouble in the fourth. South Carolina led off the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back singles, to put runners on first and second with no outs. But Hatch and company held strong, as a lazer of a throw from Davis in centerfield gunned out a runner at the plate to keep the shutout in tack.

The Cowboys and Gamecocks traded scorelss frames throughout the game, until the eighth inning. After seven scorelss innings from Hatch, Trey Cobb came into the game to close it out. After a leadoff walk, Cobb got two Gamecocks to flyout, and then ended the inning with a strikeout.

The game moved along quickly in the middle innings. It wasn’t until the ninth inning when Collin Theroux gave the Cowboys some insurance runs with a three run bomb over the left field fence to put OSU up 5-0.

Down to their last three outs, South Carolina led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homerun to cut the lead to four. USC was able to get runners on first and second, but Cobb slammed the door shut with a strikeout, and Oklahoma State took a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.

Check out full game highlights here:

The Cowboys and Gamecocks play tomorrow at 1 p.m., with a trip to the College World Series on the line for the Cowboys for first time since 1999.

Check back with CRFF for pregame coverage for tomorrow’s matchup.