Sooners And Cowboys Baseball Pick Up Wins In Arizona

Oklahoma Takes Down Santa Clara, 8-4

SURPRISE, Ariz. – After allowing a run in the first, redshirt-sophomore lefty Adam Choplick locked in and delivered a 6.2-inning, six-strikeout performance in a 8-4 win for the University of Oklahoma baseball team over Santa Clara on Friday evening. The Sooners improved to 7-3, while the Broncos dropped to 5-6.

Trailing 1-0, Choplick (2-1) sat down 13 in a row beginning with the first out of the bottom of the second, which came with two runners on base. For the game, he allowed just one run on four hits and one walk.

"Choplick was outstanding," stated coach Pete Hughes. "He got in a really good rhythm there. He was beating them with his fastball and that gave him a lot of confidence."

Oklahoma erased Santa Clara's one-run lead with a pair of runs in the third inning. Sophomore center fielder Craig Aikin led off with a walk and came around on a double to right-center by sophomore right fielder Hunter Haley to tie the game. He later scored on a ground-rule double by freshman first baseman Niko Buentello.

The Sooners added two more in the fourth. Aikin drove in a run on a groundout as sophomore third baseman Kolbey Carpenter, who led off with a walk and later stole third, scored. Haley later singled, stole second and came home on a base hit up the middle by freshman designated hitter Sheldon Neuse.

"I thought we did a pretty decent job of situational hitting," continued Hughes. "We played some clean baseball. That's our second game in a row with no errors. We only walked one runner for the game, so we're throwing strikes and getting ahead of hitters."

Aikin drove in his second right of the day on a sacrifice-fly in the eighth. In the bottom half of the inning, Santa Clara mounted a comeback to pull within a run on a three-run home run by Casey Munoz over the fence in left field.

Oklahoma responded in the top of the ninth with three runs to add some insurance en route to the victory. The big hit in the inning came off the bat of junior left fielder and catcher Mac James with a two-run double down the left field line.

For the game, Haley went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBI. James, Hermelyn and Buentello also recorded multi-hit games. James leads the Sooners with six multi-hit games on the season.

Cowboys Earn Another Comeback Win

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Oklahoma State erased a six-run deficit Saturday against Manhattan as the 11th-ranked Cowboys picked up a 10-7 win on the second day of the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic.

Coach Josh Holliday's club used an eighth-run sixth inning to earn its fifth come-from-behind win of the season as the Cowboys improved to 10-1.

Michael Freeman earned the win in relief to improve to 2-0, while Dustin Williams continued his hot hitting with two hits and three RBIs, including a clutch triple in the pivotal sixth inning.

"When it was sitting at 6-0, if you had told me we'd win 10-7, I'd have said, ‘Okay, tell me how it happened,' because I'd have taken that," Holliday said. "(Manhattan's) energy to start the game was very good, and ours was not on par with theirs. They put pressure on us, and we didn't handle it as well as we need to.

"But to our ballclub's credit, they've shown an instinct for covering things and finding ways to win a ball game."

Manhattan (1-5) wasted no time taking control of the scoreboard against OSU starter Garrett Williams as the Jaspers scored twice in their first at bat.

In the third inning, Manhattan doubled its lead when Vin Teixeira delivered a two-out, two-run home run to left field to put the Jaspers up 4-0.

Williams left after three innings of work, but the Jaspers tallied runs in the fourth and fifth innings to go up 6-0.

After managing just one hit over the first four innings against Joey Rocchietti, the Cowboys finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth with pair of two-out RBIs. The first came on a bunt single by Saulyer Saxon before an RBI double by Donnie Walton made it 6-2.

The Cowboys gave one of those runs back in the sixth, but in the bottom of the inning, the five-run deficit would be erased.

Dustin Williams got things started with a single, and three batters later, OSU had loaded the bases with one out. Pinch hitter Ryan Sluder stepped to the plate and brought home the first run of the frame with an infield single, and back-to-back walks to Tim Arakawa and Saxon brought home two more runs and made it 7-5.

After Walton struck out, Tanner Krietemeier drew OSU's third RBI walk of the inning to pull the Cowboys within one. Up next, it was Dustin Williams delivering the big blow of the contest as he ripped a triple down the right-field line to clear the bases and put the Pokes on top. The final run of the game came when Zach Fish followed the triple with an RBI single.

"When you fought and scratched and clawed to get into position to make a run, showed some patience and drew some walks, when a young man (Williams) steps up and puts a swing on the ball to put you ahead, that changes the complexion of the game," Holliday said.

Playing its first lead, a trio of OSU hurlers kept Manhattan off the scoreboard over the final three innings to seal the win. Blake Battenfield worked scoreless seventh and eighth innings before Alex Hackerott and Brendan McCurry combined to record the final three outs of the game.

Dustin Williams, Fish and Saxon each had two hits for the Cowboys, while Walton extended his career-long hitting streak to 10 games.

OSU returns to tourney action Saturday against Santa Clara at 5 p.m. (CST).