STILLWATER, Okla. — A strong pitching effort and late-inning lead were not enough as BYU lost a nail-biter to No. 25 Oklahoma State, 5-4, in Stillwater, Okla.
The Cougars, now 2-3-1, again outhit a nationally ranked team yet lost in a dramatic fashion. The Cowboys (8-4) took advantage of an error in the eighth inning to score the unearned, go-ahead run.
Freshman pitcher Blake Torgerson (0-1) pitched well in his first career start. After he gave up two first-inning runs, Torgerson settled in, giving up only one hit in the next five innings. He retired 14 consecutive batters until the seventh inning.
Meanwhile, the Cougar bats came alive over the middle innings. In the fifth, BYU strung together three singles, the last one a Sean McNaughton RBI belt. The Cougars tied the game 2-2 in the sixth inning with a Jeff Hiestand solo home run. McNaughton struck again in the seventh inning, this time hitting a two-run homer to take a 4-2 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as the Cowboys countered with a Chris Gutierrez two-run homer. Oklahoma State re-took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning on an unearned run.
In the ninth, BYU got a leadoff single from Kory Knell. On the next play, he was tagged out at second base while trying to advance on a Ben Saylor fly out to deep to right field.
The two-game series concludes Wednesday in Stillwater. Game time is 4 p.m. (CST). Mitch Woolf is scheduled to make his first career start division one start for the Cougars.