'Today felt good': Ritchie’s 3-hit, 2-homer outing powers OSU past No. 23 Vanderbilt in 11-1 run-rule win
OSU's center fielder leads balanced offensive attack in thrashing of Commodores
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kollin Ritchie saw an enticing pitch and unloaded.
Sinker. Awkward spin. Hanged over the middle-inside portion of the strike zone. Precisely how Ritchie, Oklahoma State’s junior center fielder, preferred it.
Moments later, he swung with all his might, launching the ball into orbit as he watched it sail. And sail. And sail.
Solo home run — Ritchie’s second of the game — to finalize OSU’s 11-1 run-rule win in the eighth inning against No. 23 Vanderbilt on Sunday at Globe Life Field, ending its weekend at the Shriners Children's College Showdown.
By the time the ball landed in the upper level of the first-deck seats in right field, Ritchie already reached second base. He said he didn’t realize he’d homered until the public address announcer echoed his name through the ballpark sound system.
“Fastball middle-in,” Ritchie said. “Just kind of made him pay.”
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Ritchie’s 3-for-5, two-home run outing against the Commodores (1-2) helped ignite an OSU offense that had been stagnant through its first two games on Opening Weekend. In losses to No. 7 Arkansas and Bedlam rival Oklahoma, the Cowboys struck out 32 times while being limited to only eight combined hits.
That changed drastically on Sunday. The product on display was a polar-opposite to what it had been, validating OSU coach Josh Holliday’s praise he shed on his lineup during the team’s media day one week prior.
“I think it just kind of shows the kind of team we are,” Ritchie said. “(Many) teams can just shut down and give up on the weekend and just kind of regroup for next weekend. But we came out here and fought and ended up with a good result.”
Sophomore left-hander Ethan Lund logged a strong start, striking out eight through 3 2/3 innings and 93 total pitches of no-hit ball. Walks, however, were a common woe throughout his outing. And in the top of the fourth, they chased him from the game. Fortunately for OSU, sophomore right-hander Noah Wech weathered the storm, striking out Commodores left fielder Rustan Rigdon to strand the bases loaded.
“Each time the kids did that, it changed the game,” Holliday said. “Because the game early on was right there in the balance, either way. So, the strikeouts and some of those big pitches those kids made were huge.”
From that point on, OSU remained in control.
The Cowboys (1-2) initiated their offensive onslaught in the bottom of the fourth, courtesy of a sacrifice fly-out from sophomore Garrett Shull. One at-bat later, Ritchie unloaded on a cutter over the middle of the strike zone for a three-run blast.
Within a swift span of time, OSU gained a 4-0 lead and an advantage it wouldn’t surrender. As Wech’s dominance on the mound prolonged and his strikeout total piled up — four through 3 1/3 innings and 63 pitches — the OSU bats ignited.
Thompson added onto the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a bases-loaded, RBI-single through the 5-6 gap. Two at-bats later, Ritchie broke things open with a 2-RBI double down the pull side to right field to make it 9-0.
The Cowboys carried a no-hitter into the top of the seventh until Commodores’ right fielder Logan Johnstone neutralized it with a solo blast off Wech. But one inning later, Ritchie attained vengeance with his walk-off solo homer to finalize OSU’s run-rule victory.
“Today felt good,” Ritchie said. “It felt really good (to get going offensively).”
Through OSU’s first two games of the weekend, Ritchie batted a combined 1-for-8 (.125) with six strikeouts. A prospect many considered to be the headliner of a talented, yet unproven Cowboy lineup that had yet to deliver for his team. On Sunday, however, Ritchie delivered, leading a balanced eight-hit attack. And OSU reaped its rewards in return.
“I’ve just been working on a lot of the stuff that kind of showed up (the past two games) in the game today,” Ritchie said. “So, we’re kind of focused on the mental side of the game, and just kind of staying calm throughout that bad time and then getting back to the good.”
Now, after being outscored 22-3 over its first two games, the Cowboys depart the Lone Star state with team momentum, and perhaps most importantly, a fresh perspective — what they did well and what is necessary to improve upon down the stretch.
“You take back a couple of pitches that go our way here and there against Arkansas and OU and we’re right back in those games man,” Wech said. “(Today) just shows how good we really are.”
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The road ahead doesn’t get any easier with a four-game road series at Grand Canyon lingering next weekend, and a 30-game slate in a deep Big 12 awaiting in less than one month. But for now, at least, Holliday can find solace in a strong finish to the weekend and a product of what his team can be once May rolls around.
#OkState coach Josh Holliday speaks on Kollin Ritchie’s three-hit, two-home run performance against the Commodores.
— Daniel Allen (@bydanielallen25) February 15, 2026
Ritchie blasted a solo bomb in the bottom of the eighth to finalize OSU’s run-rule win. pic.twitter.com/YhaAiO63WS
“Our kids showed some mental toughness,” Holliday said. “They had a lot to go on after those first two days. And they just showed up today (and competed). That’s a compliment to the kids. These are three-game series’. They’re weekends. They’re not seasons rolled into one game. You can’t just become overactive to a result, but that’s a normal thing to do. So, compliments to the kids. (They) started fresh today and had a good mindset.
“We took a lot away from this tournament. Both good, and things that we’ve got to get better at. That’s the only reason you play in something like this. Right? To see where you’re at. I think every team here is going to walk out of here with a lot of information and make Monday and Tuesday’s practices more focused now that we’ve competed. And you learn a lot, which we did.”
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