OSU Agriculture celebrates topping-out milestone in New Frontiers Agricultural Hall

Kennedy Thomason Assistant News & Lifestyle Editor

New Frontiers Agricultural Hall has an orange addition.

An orange beam, with over 300 signatures from Ferguson College of Agriculture students, fac- ulty, staff and alumni, was installed in March.

This event, commonly known as a “topping-out beam,” is a milestone for the construction.

“Traditionally, a topping out is a time for the builders to celebrate one of the last beams or installation of the highest point in the construction process,”

It took 11 innings, but Iowa State did something only three other teams in the country have done this season.

Beat Oklahoma State.

The No. 3 ranked Cowgirls fell 3-2 to the Cyclones at home in their series finale on Sunday afternoon.

“Just got beat, fair and square,” coach Kenny Gajewski said. “How we respond will be the next question as we go on into next week.”

“I thought Sphelhaug really had us in knots,” Gajewski said. “Felt like we were just out of sorts.”

On the other side, the Cowgirls found success in Kyra Aycock and Kelly Maxwell. The duo pitched for majority of the game and allowed nine hits on 10.2 combined innings.

Where the game fell apart for the Cowgirls was in the batter’s box, primarily with Cheyenne Factor, Kiley Naomi and Micaela Wark going a combined

2-11 from the second through fourth spots of the lineup. ”We’ve just got to get going, hitting wise,” Gajewski said. “I feel like we’re just leaving too much out there. So, whatever that is, we’ll get it figured out, coach it up and see if we can’t execute.”

With the loss, the Cowgirls’ Big 12 records slips to 8-1 with prominent conference series’ against Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma on the horizon.

“We just fell out of character today,” Gajewski said. “It’s tough in this conference. (We’re) frustrated, we pitched well enough to win, just gave way too many at-bats away.” sports.ed@ocolly.com

Randy Raper, assistant vice president of facilities for OSU Agriculture said.

“During the New Frontiers topping out, the American and OSU Agriculture flags attached to the signed beam flew over the construction site as it was placed as one of the highest beams in the facility.”

See Milestone on page 5