© Chase Seabolt/For the Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
The Oklahoma State baseball team defeated Big 12 rival Houston on Sunday in a four-and-a-half inning game. The Cowboys saw little support from the fanbase on the Easter holiday, having to take down the Cougars in front of a non-existent crowd.
The small group that was in attendance saw fireworks near the end of the shortened contest. Houston coach Todd Whitting was tossed for his shady antics.
It was an awful weekend for baseball in Stillwater with weather causing major issues. Saturday’s matchup was canceled. Sunday’s game was delayed due to rain.
The precipitation kept much of the crowd at home for the series finale. They didn’t miss a ton in what was a 9-1 blowout.
And the crowd goes wild
— Jake Mckeever (@CBCJakeMck) April 20, 2025
The weather also caused the outing to be cut short, which ultimately led to Todd Whitting’s ejection.
The Houston baseball coach tried to delay the final out.
Since the Cougars had to fly into Stillwater, they were playing Sunday’s game on a travel curfew. The game needed to be wrapped up by 4:05pm local time. The rain delay made that task difficult.
The fifth inning started close to the cutoff. Typically, five innings need to be recorded for a game to count.
Oklahoma State was the home team. It needed to get three outs before 4:05 to make the result official. Todd Whitting tried to make that an impossible feat.
Houston head coach Todd Whitting has been ejected from the game.
The Cougars were nabbed multiple times for stalling the game — if OSU doesn’t record its final out by 4 p.m., the game does not count.
Whitting voiced his displeasure multiple times. Now, he’s ejected.#OkState pic.twitter.com/25Z12msia8
— Daniel Allen (@danielallen1738) April 20, 2025
The Houston baseball coach was ejected for stalling in the fifth inning. He tried to keep the Cowboys from recording the final out on time.
“It appears they were trying to get the top of the fifth inning to last until 4:05,” said OSU coach Josh Holliday. The umpiring crew caught on and had him removed from the dugout.
Travel curfews are set in place to ensure teams get to the airport at a reasonable time and return home for class the following day. They’ve had an effect on games in the past.
Earlier this year, Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mangione stalled against Texas A&M to prevent the teams from playing the ninth inning. He was successful in that attempt, which led to a shouting match between Mangione and Michael Earley.
Todd Whitting tried to do the same. He knew his team had little chance of a comeback trailing 9-1. They weren’t going to get another at-bat given the cutoff.
Whitting did his best to stall. It landed him an ejection. Oklahoma State was able to record the final out before the curfew to secure the conference win.