MORGANTOWN — West Virginia was six outs away from picking up a sweep Sunday against No. 18 Oklahoma State.
Then disaster struck in the bottom of the eighth, as the Cowboys scored six runs to pull away for an 11-6 victory at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.
WVU (25-11, 5-4 Big 12) still took the series with a 6-3 win on Friday and a 9-5 victory on Saturday. It’s the second Big 12 series win of the season for the Mountaineers.
Oklahoma State (24-13, 8-7) ended a five-game losing streak with the win.
Leading 6-5 in the eighth, WVU reliever David Hagaman gave up three straight singles to Chase Adkison, David Mendham and Tyler Wulfert that tied the game.
Brennan Holt walked to load the bases. After Marcus Brown flied out to shallow right field, pinch hitter Colin Brueggemann singled through the right side to give the Cowboys an 8-6 advantage.
That was it for Hagaman, who was relieved for by Kevin Dowdell, who gave up an RBI single to Vic Riggio, before Carson Benge walked to load the bases again.
Dowdell struck out Nolan Schubart for the second out, but then hit Jaxson Crull with a pitch for an RBI.
Jake Carr came in for Dowdell and Mendham singled again to score Riggio.
Noah Short then came in and finally picked up the third out by striking out Wulfert.
WVU took the 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth inning, when Dayne Leonard doubled home Tevin Tucker, but the lead was short lived.
Tucker finished 4 for 5 in the game and finished with a terrific series. In the three games, the WVU shortstop was 7 for 12 and scored six runs.
Having never batted higher than .199 in a season over his first three years at WVU, Tucker’s average is up to .355 with 13 stolen bases on the season.
Grant Hussey added a solo home run for the Mountaineers and Ellis Garcia had two hits and drove in two runs.
Hagaman (0-1) took the loss for WVU. He pitched 1 1/3 innings, while giving up five runs on four hits. Brian Hendry (2-0) picked up the win. He pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, giving up two hits, but no runs.
Wulfert and Riggio were the stars for Oklahoma State, combining for seven of the Cowboys’ 13 hits.
WVU stranded 12 runners for the game and played a second time without star second baseman J.J. Wetherholt in the lineup. The sophomore is nursing an injured left hand he suffered during Friday’s victory.
The Mountaineers are back in action at 6 p.m. Wednesday, when they face rival Pitt at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
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