Cowboys collect 24 hits in rout, go for sweep today

By John Helsley

Published: April 13, 2008

STILLWATER — Normalcy returned to Reynolds Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

One-sided normalcy.

Less than 24 hours after the first 1-0 game in the history of the Oklahoma State ballyard, the Cowboys pounded 24 hits in clobbering No. 6-ranked Nebraska 19-2.

Somewhere, Gary Ward must be grinning.

Before a season-high crowd of 2,888, every Cowboy starter banged at least two hits and OSU totaled eight extra-base hits, including Rebel Ridling's team-leading eighth home run.

Already clinching the series, the No. 21 Cowboys go for a weekend sweep today at 1 p.m. OSU improved to 23-9 overall, 8-6 in the Big 12. Nebraska fell to 24-6-1 and 10-3-1.

"That's baseball,” said OSU coach Frank Anderson. "It's a strange game. You never know what you're going to get when you come out.”

Just as history provided no reason to expect a 1-0 outcome Friday night, Nebraska's stout pitching numbers hardly suggested Saturday's results.

The Huskers entered the day with a 2.81 staff earned run average that led the Big 12 and ranked No. 3 nationally, a key reason they stood atop the conference standings.

It took less than three hours for the Cowboys to swell that ERA to 3.28 against six Nebraska pitchers, blowing open a 1-1 game with six runs in the fourth and eight in the fifth.

"Last night, everybody was struggling, couldn't put anything together,” said Ridling, who drove in four runs. "Today, seemed like nobody could get out.”

OSU left fielder Neil Medchill went 4-for-4 at the plate, finishing a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.

Four other Cowboys collected three hits each in helping produce the most runs scored against Nebraska by a conference foe since 1998.

"Sometimes, you're not as good as you think,” said Huskers coach Mike Anderson, "and sometimes you're not as bad.

"Today's one of those days we're not as bad. It happens to everybody. It happened to us today.”

Overshadowed in the offensive onslaught, the Cowboys got a second straight complete-game performance from a pitcher, with Tyler Lyons allowing six hits over nine innings to improve to 6-2.

Andy Oliver went the distance in the series-opening shutout, striking out 10.

"Andy definitely set the bar high,” Lyons said. "You definitely want to come out and match what he did, do what he did the night before.

"I didn't do quite as well, but got the win, which is what's important.”

Today, the Cowboys go for something bigger – a sweep.

"It's going to be a big game,” Ridling said. "We've got the first two under our belts, which is good. But we need to come out and finish this thing off.”

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