‘I liked the grit’: OSU pushes past Missouri State in 8-7 win despite short-handed lineup

The past couple weeks for Josh Holliday have been less than ideal.

Not as a product of losing, as Oklahoma State clinched its eighth-straight win Tuesday in an 8-7 win against Missouri State at O’Brate Stadium. Nor because of subpar management from his players. But rather because of overall team health.

Holliday’s has been battling a flu outbreak, which the OSU coach clarified commenced shortly after their road series at Grand Canyon two weeks prior. Key players have been in and out of the lineup, while others have struggled to play at full strength. 

Last weekend, the Cowboys (9-3) powered through an illness-depleted lineup, clinching a series sweep of Sam Houston State. On Tuesday, they were tasked with following suit against the Bears (7-5). 

“I don’t usually get over active, but I liked the grit I saw from the team tonight,” Holliday said. “I saw something in those kids. Something that made me appreciate the effort they’ve put in the past couple of weeks even more than I already did.”

Catcher Campbell Smithwick, who missed two games over the weekend due to illness, ignited OSU’s offense with a one-out RBI-single in the bottom of the first. A play similar to his game-winning two-out RBI-hit in the series finale against the Bearkats, Smithwick sat on a four-seam fastball on the outside corner of the strike zone, lofting it to shallow left field to draw first blood for the Cowboys. 

“He is just a very steady, consistent, very fundamentally sound hitter,” Holliday said. “Very rarely does he go to home plate and not put together a good at-bat. He probably could teach the class on how to hit with two strikes.

“We slid him into the three-hole because of sound ability to handle hitting with runners in scoring position, or just with runners on base.”

The Bears plated three in the top of the fourth, chasing OSU starter Kai Fyke from the contest after only 3 2/3 innings of work — four strikeouts, eight hits, two walks and three runs, two earned, through 66 total pitches. But a one-out double from right fielder TP Wentworth in the bottom half of the inning brought the Cowboys within a run.

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Then came the watershed moment.

One inning later, first baseman Colin Brueggemann launched a first-pitch fastball for an opposite-field grand slam to regain the lead for OSU. Holliday mentioned postgame how he was hesitant to start Brueggemann given his spotty health. Still, ill and deprived of full strength, Brueggemann delivered for his team in a pivotal moment. 

“He just goes up there and makes a huge swing and obviously the vibes in the dugout (were wild) and the momentum switch was huge,” Cowboys’ closer Noah Wech said. “Everyone was up and on their feet and supporting it. And he needed it — we needed it.” 

Garrett Shull finalized OSU’s scoring the following inning with a two-run moonshot to right-center field to make it 8-3. The Bears rallied in the top of the seventh with a four-run frame, but Wech slammed the door over the latter two to clinch a win against a quality midweek opponent.

As Holliday said postgame, the Cowboys were tested. On paper, Missouri State has a regional-caliber lineup. Despite OSU’s depth being tested, players rose to the task at hand and did enough to win. 

Thus, Holliday emphasized that Tuesday’s headline was centered around his team overcoming adversity.

Third baseman Aidan Meola — one of college baseball’s hottest hitters prior to last weekend — missed most of OSU’s series against Sam Houston State. Shull slept in the team meeting room for days, still prepared to play if something unforeseen arose. Smithwick, despite missing Friday and Saturday’s games against the Bearkats, pushed through his ill state against Missouri State.  

Tuesday was a product of the Cowboys rising to the occasion despite suboptimal circumstances. OSU’s depth shined, while players who weren’t near full health persevered and delivered for their team.

That, Holliday said, signifies a good ball club. 

“Just the continued resilience of the kids, the way they responded tonight — it was awesome,” Holliday said. “A kid like Garrett Shull who’d been grossly sick for five days and didn’t even pick up a bat or a ball or a glove, and he laid here in a uniform to sleep unless something happened the last three days, unless the team needed him. Or (Brueggemann) — it’s been a tough start for him, and he delivers with his grand slam. There was just so many examples of the character of the kids. Their competitiveness, their grit, their perseverance — all of those are very strong indicators for me of who they are, in my opinion.

“It’d be easy to just say, ‘Hey, I’m down, I’m not right, I can’t go.’ But the ones who could go, went. And I tip my cap to our kids.”