They say that lightening never strikes twice but on a stormy day in Oklahoma City that's exactly what happened. Oklahoma State used an eighth inning rally to force an elimination game against Texas early Saturday afternoon and then they used another eighth inning rally to send the Longhorns packing and advance to Sunday's championship game.
The Cowboys struck first by plating two runs in the top of the second inning but Texas responded with one of their own in the bottom half. Oklahoma State extended their lead to 3-1 in the top of the third off a Bryan Case home run that cleared the left field wall.
In their best attempt not to lose twice in the same day, Texas put two runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game up and then took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Brooks Marlow came home on a Mark Payton single through the right side.
Needing to rally once more, the Cowboys picked the same inning to doom the Longhorns as they had earlier in the day. Saulyer Saxon led off the eighth by drawing a four-pitch walk, and then Aaron Cornell was hit by a pitch on the next at bat. After a sacrifice bunt by Donnie Walton moved the runners to second and third Texas made the decision to intentionally walk Gage Green and load the bases. Tanner Krietemeier made them pay for the decision by sending the ball straight up the middle for a single that would score both Saxon and Cornell. A few batters later Green would come home on a sacrifice by Conor Costello and all three free passes that Texas allowed at the start of the inning ended up scoring to give Oklahoma State a 6-4 win and their second eighth inning rally of the day.
The Cowboys will now face TCU, who is undefeated on the weekend, in a #1 vs. #2 seed match-up for the Big Twelve championship. First pitch in the game is slated for 4:30 on Sunday afternoon.