STILLWATER, Okla. – The Western Illinois baseball team lost its series opener to Oklahoma State by a 19-7 score, Tuesday, March 16. The Fighting Leathernecks (4-7) lost their fourth game in a row while the Cowboys (9-2) picked up their fifth-straight win.
Oklahoma State got the first two runs of the game on back-to-back solo homers in the bottom of the first inning from Davis Duren and Kevin David to lead off the game.
The Cowboys would put up three more runs in the bottom of the second to take a 5-0 lead early on. Dan Dispensa's solo homer to lead off the top of the third inning made the score 5-1, but Oklahoma State would respond with three more runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-1 lead.
After the Cowboys tacked on two more runs in the fifth, Western would plate two runs in the sixth inning when Jason Summers smacked an RBI double to center field, scoring Tom Lilja from first. Cole Waddell's RBI single later in the inning would cut the deficit to 10-3.
Oklahoma State would add on nine runs in the bottom of the sixth, including a three-run homer by Dean Green to push the lead to 19-3. The Leathernecks would score four runs in the top of the eighth inning on Dispensa's RBI double and Lilja's sacrifice fly to make the score 19-7.
Matt Klein would close the door on the comeback attempt allowing just two more hits in 1.2 IP to close out the game. Kevin Chambers (2-0) picked up the win for Oklahoma State in his first start. The freshman left hander allowed three runs in four hits in 5.0 innings.
Randon Lingle (1-2) took the loss for Western. Lingle allowed five runs on seven hits in 1.0 IP. Chris Duguay and Jared Depenbrock combined to give the Leathernecks 1.1 innings of scoreless relief in the final two innings.
Tom Lilja finished 3-for-4 with an RBI while extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Jason Summers and Dan Dispensa also finished with three hits apiece.
Oklahoma State pounded out 22 hits including four home runs. Western picked up 12 hits and made four errors in the contest, leading to five unearned runs.
The two teams will square off again tomorrow at 4 p.m. (CT). The game can be heard live via Rocky Vision beginning at 3:50 p.m.
