LJ Mercurius’ pitching gem exposes Cowboys in 10-1 Bedlam loss

ARLINGTON, Texas — Josh Holliday knew the scouting report.

Crafty arm, plus changeup, electric slider and a sneaky-good cutter. That was the rundown Holliday had on Oklahoma left-handed pitcher LJ Mercurius. And that is precisely what the Oklahoma State coach relayed to his players heading into Saturday afternoon.

“We knew he had a good arm, we knew he had some velocity, which he’s showed,” Holliday said. “...We knew what we were dealing with heading in.”

All to no avail.

Mercurius dazzled on Saturday, dominating OSU’s lineup with relative ease. The UNLV transfer showcased a stellar pitch mix, keeping the Cowboys' offense at bay throughout in OSU’s 10-1 Bedlam loss to OU on Saturday at Globe Life Field in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. The Cowboys struck out 17 times, 12 of which came against Mercurius.

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“He executed really well, and I’ll give him a lot of credit,” Holliday said. “We’re not in the business of going to home plate, coming back and giving a pitcher credit, but he did pitch well. And he pitched with a nice, solid mix. I thought his changeup was a plus-plus pitch. And that was a pitch you saw us multiple times out in front of and swinging over the top of.

“He really put himself on the map today.”

Of those 12 strikeouts, eight came against his changeup. OSU hitters were routinely behind his marquee pitch, while his slider was merely a cherry on top for his arsenal.

And while Mercurius’ gem hindered OSU's ability to establish any offensive consistency, the Cowboys’ (0-2) defense didn’t help their case, either. The commonality? A lack of ability to neutralize OU’s lead-off hitters. 

OSU starter Mario Pesca walked his first two batters faced in the bottom of the first, only for OU shortstop Jaxon Willits to ignite the Sooners’ (2-0) onslaught with a 2-RBI single. Pesca again walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the second, only for OU second baseman Kyle Branch to laser a hanging sinker from Pesca to right field for another RBI-knock. 

Two innings later, the Sooners capitalized on another lead-off walk, as Dayton Tockey plated a run with an RBI-sacrifice fly-out to make it 4-0 OU. 

Shortly after, Pesca was chased from the contest after only 3 innings of work — three strikeouts, five hits, three walks and four earned runs through 69 total pitches — and OSU’s bullpen was exposed prematurely.

“(OU has) the kind of offense where you really don’t want to give them any type of head start,” Holliday said. “Walking guys, things like that. Because they run the bases really well, and they use a lot of different tactics to create offense. And we gave them runners, which you really don’t want to do against a team like that that’s already very athletic. And then they put the bat on the ball — they did that really well.

“They took those lead-off walks and turned them into runs.”

OSU’s lone scoring of the day came in the top of the fifth, courtesy of an RBI-double from center fielder Kollin Ritchie to make it 4-1. But in the bottom half of the inning, the Cowboys’ pitching woes resurfaced.

The Sooners put up a four-run frame in the bottom of the fifth, highlighted by a three-run moonshot to right field from Dayton Tockey, who scorched a hanging curveball from OSU veteran lefty Brennan Phillips. OU tallied two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to finalize its scoring, and relievers Michael Catalano and Reid Hensley totaled five additional strikeouts of OSU batters, putting the game out of reach. 

“We just weren’t real sound in anything that we did,” Holliday said. “We were iffy on our at-bats, iffy with our strike-throwing. Our defense had a few breakdowns. I thought the kid that started for them obviously pitched extremely well.

“We just didn’t do enough good things. I mean, that’s all there is to it. And any time we started to kind of build something a little bit, we’d shoot ourselves in the foot.”

OSU has a chance on Sunday to turn the page on what has been a treacherous Opening Weekend. That won’t come easy against No. 23 Vanderbilt (1-1) with a 10:30 a.m. first pitch time. Holistically, however, it’s an opportunity for players to find an offensive groove, establish team momentum and finish the weekend strong.

The Cowboys have struck out a combined 32 times through two games against Arkansas and OU. All while they’ve been limited to eight total hits through 17 offensive frames.

Hitting with runners in scoring position has been a crux in OSU's offensive inefficiencies, too. On Saturday, OSU hit 0-for-6 in RISP situations — Ritchie's RBI-double scored Ortiz from first base. The Sooners an 8-for-19 mark (.421).

That isn’t an ideal product. Especially for a lineup Holliday commended during the team’s media day a week prior, claiming it to be more complete than the 2025 version.

So far, however, the Cowboys have been noncompetitive. Holliday acknowledged that postgame. 

Simultaneously, he noted the vitality behind getting exposed early.

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ENTER TO WIN

Why schedule a light opponent to open the season rather than gauge a team’s depth early and pinpoint areas in need of improvement? A 0-2 start might be disappointing to fans, sure. But Holliday said he schedules nonconference opponents in preparation for the long run. Thus, he highlighted how scheduling such a daunting Opening Weekend slate can be beneficial in retrospect. 

Now, it becomes a matter of improving upon those areas. And what better way to commence that process than a noteworthy finish to the weekend against the Commodores?

“The winning message is how do you adjust, what did you do learn, how did you learn, what do you do differently and how do you show up tomorrow ready to compete?” Holliday said. “And that’s got to be the focus for us, and that’s the focus on a daily basis with the kids. Right? So, yeah — if you wanna give yourself a chance to go 3-0 (on Opening Weekend), there’s definitely ways to schedule for that. If you put your team in the middle of something and see where you’re at, this will definitely help you.”