Utah Tech opened the road portion of its 2023 schedule on the wrong end of an 11-1 result in seven innings at No. 13 Oklahoma State on Friday night at O'Brate Stadium.
 
The Trailblazers (5-9) hung with the nationally-ranked Cowboys in the early going, surrendering only one run over the first three innings, which came on a David Mendham two-out solo home run in the OSU first.
 
Oklahoma State stretched its lead to 4-0 with three runs in the fourth, though Utah Tech would get one of those runs back in the sixth with a Shane Taylor RBI-groundout. Hank Dodson drew a one-out walk ahead of Bryker Hurdsman, who doubled Dodson to third before the Taylor at-bat.
 
However that would be it for Utah Tech as OSU took advantage of a costly Blazer error in the seventh, which led to seven Cowboy runs and a walk-off win via the seven inning run rule.
 
Utah Tech was limited to three hits and the lone run by Cowboy righthander Juaron Watts-Brown (W, 2-0), who struck out 13 Trailblazers in 6.2 innings. UT hurler Brett Porthan (L, 2-2) struck out five, but did surrender four runs (three earned) and five hits in six innings complete.
 
The two teams will play the middle two games of their four-game weekend series on Saturday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. (CT).