Apr. 2—That wasn’t a situation most freshmen find themselves in. And it certainly wasn’t a situation in which most freshmen thrive.

But those freshmen aren’t Nolan Schubart.

Schubart, a left fielder a little more than halfway through his first season with Oklahoma State, stepped to the plate at O’Brate Stadium with a chance to erase everything that had happened in the three-plus hours and eight-and-a-half innings preceding that moment.

Five pitches later, he ripped a single past the diving first baseman, a knock that scored the No. 13 Cowboys’ runner on third to give them a 4-3, walk-off win over Big 12 Conference foe and No. 15 Texas on Sunday afternoon.

“After I touched first, it’s kind of almost like a blackout sensation,” said Schubart, who was mobbed, showered with water and emphatically celebrated by his teammates. “To be honest, I think the adrenaline and everything kind of took over.

“I mean, I just remember getting the first splash of water and that was it.”

Schubart’s game-winning, series-clinching RBI single capped an intrepid, comefrom- behind triumph that never seemed likely throughout the first handful of innings. Never seemed likely until it was finite, really.

The Cowboys (22-7, 6-3 Big 12) walked into the bottom of the ninth having struggled to capitalize in opportune situations. They lapped the Longhorns (20-9, 4-2 Big 12) in hits, even, with OSU tallying 10 compared to Texas’ five.

But the only thing the Pokes had to show for the first eight innings was a two-run shot from junior catcher Chase Adkison in the sixth. That, Cowboys coach Josh Holliday said, was in large part because of Texas’ mound mix of Lebarron Johnson, David Shaw and Ace Whitehead.

“I think, at times, we’ve hitten around the ball a little too much and hit the right pitch. And, at times, we swung at pitches out of the zone,” Holliday said. “Sometimes you run into a pitcher who’s good, and the percentages say good pitching will slow you down.”

As productive as Texas’ pitchers were, OSU’s were up to the task, too. It was a turnaround that began with Cowboys junior Brian Hendry and continued with Stillwater High alumni Drew Blake and Isaac Stebens.

Hendry, a righty who got the start, gave up a threerun home run to Longhorns catcher Garret Guillemette in the top of the first inning. In fact, it took Guillemette, who had a two-run shot in the series opener on Friday, only one pitch — something belt-high and offspeed — to hit his fifth home run of the season.

Hendry settled in, allowing only two hits between then and when he was taken out in the top of the fifth. And, upon entering in relief, Blake went to work, stepping onto the mound and giving up a single hit and no runs while striking out five in four innings of work.

“Unbelievable,” Holliday said when asked about Blake’s performance. “It’s outstanding. Out of the superlatives, I think outstanding is the best one I’ve got.”

When it comes to Stebens, the only other former Pioneer on the roster, the three outs he forced came when the Cowboys needed them most.

Blake, his former teammate at Stillwater High before the two were reunited this season, had just put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the ninth. His tank was nearing empty, and Holliday settled on making the change.

Despite the situation he inherited, and regardless of the hole he further dug himself into, Stebens delivered.

After hitting the first batter he faced, a misfire that loaded the bases, he battled through a 10-pitch at-bat for his only strikeout. Then he forced a ground ball that resulted in a 6-4-3 double play.

“Isaac’s escapability in the ninth was, obviously, what allowed our ninth inning to unfold the way that it did,” Holliday said. “I thought our pitching was the story. Our defense behind it was important. And then our toughness and resiliency to stay with it ... was huge.”

That ninth-inning rally, the one that effectively inched the Cowboys closer to the league-leading Longhorns, started with redshirt freshman Brennan Holt, who singled up the middle after shortstop Marcus Brown lined out to begin the inning.

And then Riggio walked. And then first baseman David Mendham walked.

And then a wild pitch scored Holt to tie the game at 3-3.

And then — with the 5,655 fans in attendance on their feet, encouragingly bellowing as loud as they had all afternoon — Schubart happened.

“Personally, it was a big moment,” Schubart said. “But I think the at-bats before is what really got us to that moment, for sure.”

“I knew. I can’t say I know all the time. I knew there,” Holliday added. “I knew he would be under control. I knew he’d be present. I knew he’d be in the moment. I knew they’d have to make a perfect pitch. And when they didn’t quite get the perfect pitch, I knew he’d come through.”