STILLWATER – Oklahoma State remained perfect on the season as the 17th-ranked Cowboys completed a series sweep of Illinois State with a 6-0 win at O’Brate Stadium Sunday.
With the victory, OSU improved to 6-0 on the season, while ISU fell to 2-3.
Four pitchers combined for the Cowboys’ first shutout of the season. Starter Bryce Osmond worked five innings for his first win of the year, with C.J. Varela, Tucker Elliott and Roman Phansalkar coming out of the bullpen.
Offensively, OSU continued to take advantage of the long ball as Nolan McLean, Brock Mathis and Jake Thompson each homered for the Pokes. The Cowboys now have nine homers on the season, six of those coming on the weekend.
The initial power surge came in the opening inning as McLean delivered an opposite field home run over the wall in right for his first-career homer to give the Cowboys a 1-0 lead.
OSU doubled its lead in the second, with Mathis collecting the first of his three RBIs on the day with a sacrifice fly to push the score to 2-0.
The Pokes got two-run homers in both the fourth and fifth frames, with Mathis going deep to left field in the fourth, and Thompson making the score 6-0 in the fifth with a no-doubter to right.
That was more than enough cushion for the OSU pitching staff.
Osmond allowed just three hits and struck out three in his five innings of work, while Varela, Elliott and Phansalkar combined to strike out four and allow four hits while not issuing a walk.
The Cowboys return to action Tuesday when they travel to Springfield, Mo., to take on Missouri State in a game scheduled for a 3 p.m. first pitch.