The moment pitching coach Rob Walton motioned his right hand toward the bullpen, Mario Pesca knew what was coming.
Bases loaded. No outs in the top of the fourth inning of Oklahoma State baseball's eventual Tuesday night 9-5 win against Wichita State at O’Brate Stadium, as the Shockers held a one-run advantage, looking to lengthen it. But in came the behemoth reliever that is Pesca — who endured the jam from starter and freshman righty Matthew Brown — looking to extinguish that threat.
A daunting task to some, sure. Particularly when the opposition is one crisp swing away from drastically stretching the deficit. But not to Pesca.
“To me, you can’t really think any differently,” Pesca said. “Whether it be a clean inning or bad (luck) or a whatever situation, you’ve just got to stay pretty uniform (mentally).
“I don’t try to build it up or make (the situation) smaller. I just go about it as it is and just try the same mindframe regardless.”
On a 2-1 count, Pesca threw a cutter inside the strike zone, drawing a tight swing from Shockers’ left fielder Gannon Snyder. A picture-perfect scenario for the lanky right-hander Pesca.
Cowboys’ shortstop Drew Culbertson pioneered a 6-4-3 double play, allowing one Wichita State run to score but still neutralizing the threat. And two at-bats later, Pesca drew a fly out to end the frame and keep the damage minimal. A moment in the game that retrospectively proved to be paramount, all thanks to Pesca.
“I think that was the turning point,” Cowboys’ coach Josh Holliday said. “Mario has shown a really good heartbeat and a very good amount of maturity lately. He always pitches on behalf of the team.
“The team thinks good things are gonna happen when he pitches. The karma behind him is strong and very positive… I think you saw that tonight.”
It was all Cowboys (12-10) from that moment on.
OSU got on the board with a four-run bottom half of the fourth, sparked by plate discipline and timely hitting. Third baseman Jayson Jones got things going with a bases-loaded walk before designated hitter Colin Brueggemann gave OSU its first lead with a bases-clearing, 3-RBI triple.
Second baseman Braden Smith — who led all hitters on the night with three – led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo blast to left-center field. One at-bat later, first baseman Nolan Schubart followed suit with a solo bomb of his own to right-center field to make it 6-2 OSU.
“That was a big swing from Brueggemann, and then obviously (Schubart) and I going back-to-back took the life out of (Wichita State) for the most part,” Smith said. “That was big for us.”
The Shockers (8-16) and Cowboys traded runs in the sixth before OSU plated runs in its last two offensive frames to finalize its scoring on the night.
“All around, it was a good day,” Holliday said. “You know, at times sometimes what you need as a team is just a good day all around. And I thought that’s what we got tonight.”
In a game Holliday said he toyed with OSU’s lineup for experimental purposes in moving Smith from center field to second and Schubart from right field to first — while also joking how Brueggemann, OSU’s usual starter at first base, could “use some rest” — the Cowboys’ lineup prevailed.
Now, a greater test awaits.
The Cowboys lost two of their last six before Tuesday, and their lineup and pitching staff haven't materialized as the talented group it was cracked up to be in the preseason.
Offensive woes and strikeout issues have resurfaced, while inconsistencies within the pitching staff — particularly the starting rotation — have been profuse. Consecutive series losses to West Virginia and Utah exposed them. If things don't heal swiftly, a talented Kansas (19-6) team will, too, this weekend when the Cowboys travel to Lawrence for a three-game series against the Jayhawks.
Tuesday night, Holliday said, was a step in that direction.
“The game is what it was,” Holliday said. “There was obviously a lot of back-and-forth. We had a lot of runners on base, a lot of timely hits and some darn good pitching from our (pitching) staff. I can’t wait to see what the finished product looks like when we start finishing some of these innings that we’re starting. But overall, a good win for our team.”