Eric Garcia had a night to remember in Oklahoma City on Thursday night for the Missouri Tigers. Garcia's one-out walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning plated Andrew Thigpen, who started the inning off with a single, to give the Tigers the 5-4 victory against Oklahoma State on day two of the Big XII Championship.
The Tigers are 2-0 in the Championship and look to continue this roll they are on as they know that their only chance at a regional birth is a Big XII Championship.
"I’m really proud of these guys, not just this weekend, but the last five or six weeks," said Missouri coach Tim Jamieson.
Oklahoma State will now face Texas on Friday afternoon while Missouri has a much-earned day off. The winner of the Texas vs. Oklahoma State game will face Missouri on Saturday.
Kansas State fell to Texas A&M 4-1 in the nightcap at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. Just like Missouri, Texas A&M will now have the day-off on Friday and they will face the winner of the Kansas State vs Oklahoma game set for Friday.
The Wildcats' inability to find an answer for Texas A&M starter Michael Wacha proved to be the difference in this game. Wacha threw eight innings surrendering just one-run on five hits, while striking-out seven.
Kansas State starter Matt Applegate was pulled in the third inning after surrendering three runs on five hits and leaving the bases loaded for Kansas State reliever Justin Lindsey. Lindsey struck out Kevin Gonzalez before getting Brandon Wood to ground into a fielders choice to end the inning to keep the Wildcats in the game. Lindsey kept the Wildcats close as he went 5.2 innings giving up no runs on just four hits. But Macha proved to be too much for the Wildcats.
"It was pretty simple, Michael Wacha pretty much dominated tonight," said Kansas State coach Brad Hill.
Texas will face Oklahoma State at 3:15 on Friday afternoon while Kansas State will face Oklahoma at 7:00 Friday night at RedHawks field in Oklahoma City. These are win-or-go-home games for all four of these teams as they look to keep hope alive for a Big XII Championship. You can watch all of these games live through the Big XII website.