Cowboys Drop to 0-2 in Big 12 With 6-1 Loss at UCF

For most of the evening, the faint cheers of a sparsely-filled ballpark outweighed any echoes of praise from the visitor dugout.

Why? Because they didn't surface too often.

For the second consecutive day, OSU struck first. And for the second consecutive day, the Cowboys’ offense vanished soon after.

UCF capitalized on OSU's offensive stagnation, riding a dominant outing from starting pitcher Matt Sauser and a steady offensive push to hand OSU a 6-1 loss on Saturday at John Euliano Ballpark. With the loss, the Cowboys have opened Big 12 play with a series loss for four straight seasons, dating back to 2023.

And OSU's road ahead doesn't get any easier.

Next weekend, a much-improved Baylor team comes to Stillwater. Three weeks later, the Cowboys travel to the Little Apple (Manhattan, Kansas) to clash with a scorching-hot Kansas State ball club. All while a dates with offensive juggernauts in Kansas and Texas Tech, along with conference favorites TCU and Arizona State still lingering along the horizon.

For now, the Cowboys' focus will be preventing a series sweep in the finale, which starts Sunday at 10 a.m. central standard time. Resetting and focusing on contention for a Big 12 title will need to come afterward.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday's game.

Offensive stagnancies sink OSU

Similarly to Friday, the Cowboys erupted out of the gate.

Shortstop Brock Thompson got things going with a one-out double down the right field line. Two at-bats later, third baseman Aidan Meola ripped an RBI-double to left field to draw first blood for the Cowboys (12-6, 0-2 Big 12).

But UCF right-hander Matt Sauser settled in after the first inning. And from that point on, he was nothing short of dominant.

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A transfer from Florida State, Sauser showcased a steady mixture of changeup and curveball, which kept OSU hitters at bay throughout the contest. His four-seam fastball wasn’t overpowering — he only totaled four strikeouts, each of which came off the changeup — yet, his pitch placement routinely kept the Cowboys off-balanced.

OSU was held hitless after the first inning, finishing with a season-low two hits. Sauser retired 14 of 18 batters faced past the opening frame, trimming OSU's team batting average a full 0.09 points heading into the series finale.

Matthew Geyl and Michael Gillen threw the latter 2 2/3 frames, slamming the door on a grim offensive performance for the Cowboys.

Pesca struggles

After a shaky start to the season, Mario Pesca had seemingly settled in through his two most-recent starts. Saturday showed otherwise.

A wild pitch from the senior right-hander tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the second. Two innings later, the Knights (11-6, 2-0 Big 12) took the lead off a sacrifice fly out from center fielder DeAmez Ross.

Then came the avalanche.

A lead-off infield single in the bottom of the fifth spiraled into a three-hit frame that included two hit batters for UCF. Two of those hits were weak-contact singles with exit velocities below 95 miles per hour. Nonetheless, each was well-placed. And in turn, the Knights added three more runs to their lead to make it 5-1.

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Pesca remained in the game until the seventh, likely due to bullpen preservation for Sunday. He finished with five strikeouts to 10 hits and five earned runs through 6 2/3 innings of work and a season-high 107 total pitches.

His struggles Saturday stemmed from issues dating back to Opening Weekend. Pitch command was an issue, as shown by three free bases issues — two of which came via hit batter. He routinely pitched behind in the count, leading to an unideal finish to his fifth outing of the season.

Thompson’s hitting streak reaches six games

In what is likely the lone silver lining to come out of Saturday, sophomore Brock Thompson’s hitting streak reached six games.

Thompson has now recorded in 15 of OSU's 17 games this season, which is the most of any prospect on the roster. His .305 batting average ranks fifth on the team, and he has three home runs and a 1.027 OPS to go with it. Not to mention, his wRC+ value sits at 143 — for context, 90-100 is considered average.

Thompson has displayed substantial progression upon his freshman campaign. And moving forward, if the Cowboys hope to reach new heights this season, Thompson will continue producing at his current level.