Oklahoma State’s wild 6-5 win over Texas Tech forces Game 3

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Noah Sifrit raced home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning and Oklahoma State beat Texas Tech 6-5 on Saturday night to force a deciding Game 3 in the NCAA Super Regional.

After Sifrit led off the ninth by drawing a walk from Clayton Beeter (0-3), the Red Raiders made a pitching change. Taylor Floyd walked two more batters to load the bases and threw three wild pitches, all advancing Sifirt.

The last wild pitch ricocheted far enough from the plate for Sifrit, who had entered the game in the top of the inning as the left fielder, to take off and safely dive in head-first to end the game.

Ben Leeper (4-3) allowed an unearned run while pitching the final 1 1/3 innings for Oklahoma State.

The deciding game between the Big 12 rivals is Sunday.

Texas Tech (43-18) will try to get to the College World Series for the fourth time in six seasons. The Cowboys are looking for their first trip to Omaha since 2016, which was their 20th CWS in school history.

The Cowboys (40-20) led 5-4 after Colin Simpson hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. Tech got even in the ninth, taking advantage of an error and an infield single before Brian Klein’s sacrifice fly.

Simpson also had an RBI single in the first inning.

Cowboys leadoff hitter Hueston Morrill was 3 for 3, including a two-run homer in the fifth. He had a single in the first and scored on a single by Simpson for the first run of the game.

Dru Baker drove in two runs for the Red Raiders, with a solo homer in the seventh and an RBI single an inning later.

Texas Tech had won eight consecutive games against Oklahoma State, including a three-game series sweep in the regular season and the Red Raiders’ 8-6 win in Game 1 of the Super Regional on Friday night.

Play Now!