Spotty Defense Burns Baylor as Season Ends against OSU in Opener of Big 12 Tournament

ARLINGTON, Texas – No. 10-seed Baylor baseball’s (33-22, 13-17) season came to a close after falling 4-3 to No. 7-seed Oklahoma State (28-22, 15-12) in the opener of the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday evening at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Left-handed pitcher Ethan Calder (Jr.) started the game on the bump for the Bears and tossed an absolute gem, striking out five and allowing just two hits and one earned run across five frames.

Baylor blew its lead in the later innings, however, following a pair of brutal errors from third baseman Pearson Riebock (Fr.) and shortstop Tyriq Kemp (Sr.); only two of Oklahoma State’s four runs were earned.

The Bears out-hit Oklahoma State in the defeat, 7-to-5, but went 1-for-13 (.077) with runners on and 1-for-5 (.200) with runners in scoring position. Designated hitter Hunter Simmons (RSr.) was the lone Bear with a multi-hit performance.

“It’s a tight ballgame where both teams are pitching the heck out of it. I thought that our guys did a heck of a job with that, and their guys did too — they threw two conference starters today at us, so they were all in us as well,” head coach Mitch Thompson said post-game. “It’s frustrating that we couldn’t get more going offensively, but there’s a reason you can’t get more going. At the same time, we had seven hits. It’s a game of inches. We weren’t facing chop liver out there.”

Oklahoma State struck first in the second inning when center fielder Kollin Ritchie (So.) took Calder deep for a 409-foot solo shot, his 10th home run of the season and second long ball against the Bears this spring.

In the following frame, catcher Cortlan Castle (Sr.) drew a leadoff walk and scored on a wild sequence where the Pokes air-mailed a throw past shortstop into no man’s land between third base and left field on a potential 4-6-3 double play. 

Amidst the chaos, Enzo Apodaca (RSr.) reached third base and later scored on an RBI ground out from Kemp, giving Baylor a 2-1 lead. Kemp finished the year tied for the team lead with 41 RBIs.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Calder worked around a one-out double from Oklahoma State right fielder Nolan Schubart (Jr.) that was mere inches from tying the game at two apiece. Schubart is third in the Big 12 with 17 home runs.

Apodaca lined a screaming double into the right field corner to lead off the top of the fifth. Second baseman Travis Sanders (RSo.) then followed with a single to put runners on the corners and no outs, making way for Kemp to sky an RBI sacrifice fly to right field to extend Baylor’s lead to 3-1.

Right-handed pitcher Lucas Davenport (RSo.) entered in relief of Calder in the bottom of the sixth, and Oklahoma State immediately doubled its hit total with back-to-back singles. First baseman Colin Brueggemann (Sr.) looked poised to tie the game with a liner to left field, but Wesley Jordan (Sr.) made a diving catch to limit the damage to an RBI sacrifice fly.

Later in the inning, with a runner still on second base, designated hitter Jayson Jones (Jr.) hit a routine grounder to third base, but Riebock made a bad throw, and it got past Jack Little (RSo.) at first base, allowing the tying run to score. Little entered in place of Gavin Brzozowski (RSo.) as a defensive substitution prior to the bottom of the sixth and struck out in his only at-bat.

Baylor’s defensive woes continued into the seventh inning when right-handed pitcher Gabe Craig (RSr.) entered into a one-out jam with runners on first and second base. Craig got a strikeout before a potential ending-inning grounder to shortstop went right under Kemp’s glove and gave the Cowboys the lead, 4-3.

Earlier in the frame, the nine-hole hitter, Brock Thompson (Fr.), reached base against Davenport on a controversial walk where he swung and missed at strike three, but the umpires decided it was foul-tipped. A few pitches later, Thompson forced ball four and reached base first to extend the inning.

“What I thought happened was that it was a check swing and it tipped my glove,” Castle said post-game. “It was unfortunate to see it go the other way. It’s part of the game. It’s not the first time that something hasn’t gone our way. I know that happens to every team, and it’s part of it, but it was an unfortunate moment there.”

Right-handed pitcher Mario Pesca (Jr.) entered in relief for the Pokes and dominated the Bears across the latter half of the game, striking out two and allowing just two baserunners across 3.2 frames. Reliever Gabe Davis (Fr.) recorded a one, two, three ninth inning with Apodaca flying out to center field to end the contest.

 

Final: Oklahoma State 4, Baylor 3

W: Mario Pesca (7-2) L: Lucas Davenport (4-2) S: Gabe Davis (3)

POTG: Ethan Calder (5 IP, 2 H, R, ER, BB, 5 K, 18 BF, 70 TP, 47 ST)

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