Friday College Baseball Roundup

The Cowboys, Sooners and Golden Eagles picked up wins on Friday night on the diamond.

Saturday, April 5th 2014, 12:05 am

By: News 9


Sooners' Seventh-Inning Rally Fuels 4-2 Win

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma baseball team erased a one-run deficit with a three-run seventh inning en route to a 4-2 win over CSU Bakersfield at L. Dale Mitchell Park, Friday night. The Sooners improved to 21-10, while the Roadrunners dropped to 11-17. The two teams will conclude the series with a doubleheader starting at 2:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. Sundays contest was moved up due to the threat of inclement weather.

Trailing 2-1 after the seventh inning stretch, Oklahoma got its offense going with a one-out single by junior left fielder Mac James. Freshman designated hitter Austin O'Brien tied the game on a triple hit deep to the wall in center. The Sooners took the lead on the next pitch as sophomore right fielder Hunter Haley banged a double off the right field wall.

Oklahoma added a third run in the inning as junior second baseman Joshua Ake drove in Haley with an infield single to short. It was the second hit of the game for Ake, who doubled and scored in the sixth inning. Ake and O'Brien each went 2-for-3 in the game.

Sophomore right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. was the fifth OU pitcher of the night when he entered in the ninth inning. He promptly set Bakersfield down in order to record his sixth save of the season.

Senior right-hander Kyle Hayes claimed the win in one inning of relief of sophomore righty Corey Copping. Hayes (3-0) pitched one shutout innings with two strikeouts and two walks. He issued back-to-back one-out walks, but escaped the jam with a strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out at third base.

Copping tossed a season-high 100 pitches as he went six innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and one walk, while striking out five. For the Roadrunners, lefty Taylor Aikenhead pitched seven innings and scattered seven hits, while walking none and striking out two for four runs.

Redshirt-sophomore lefty Adam Choplick and freshman righty Jake Elliott are expected to start on the mound in tomorrow's doubleheader.

 

Cowboys Victorious In Series Opener

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State won its fourth-straight game Friday night as the 20th-ranked Cowboys topped No. 25 Texas Tech, 3-1, in the series opener at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

With the win, the Cowboys improved to 21-9 overall, and their third consecutive Big 12 Conference victory puts them at 4-3 in league play.

Starter Jon Perrin earned the win on the mound, while Brendan McCurry notched the save as four different OSU pitchers limited TTU to just five hits.

Offensively, Gage Green led OSU with a 2-for-3 night at the plate, and Saulyer Saxon and Conor Costello each recorded RBIs.

OSU scored all the runs it would need in the first three innings.

Green led off the bottom of the second with a double, and after stealing third, the Cowboys' catcher scored on a balk. OSU threatened to add to its lead with runners on the corners and no outs, but Cameron Smith came out of the TTU bullpen and recorded an out in a rundown between third and home before getting out of the inning with a double play.

The Cowboys went on top 2-0 in the third. Saxon was hit by a pitch to open the inning, and following a sacrifice bunt by Donnie Walton, Costello delivered an RBI double into the right-center field gap.

TTU (23-10, 4-6) trimmed its deficit in half in the fifth when Eric Gutierrez led off the inning with his fifth home run of the season, a shot over the left field wall that made the score 2-1.

The Red Raiders appeared poised for more after a bunt single and an error put runners on the corners with no outs. But Perrin snagged a grounder and threw out Stephen Smith at home before getting a strikeout and a foul out to escape further damage.

OSU answered the Red Raiders by adding an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth when Saxon lined an RBI double down the left field line to score Tim Arakawa from second base.

Perrin, who was making his third-straight Friday night start, worked six innings and allowed five hits and a walk while striking out four to improve to 3-2 on the year.

Wheeland worked two perfect innings and recorded a pair of strikeouts before Garrett Williams came out of the OSU bullpen to open the ninth.

After Williams hit Tyler Floyd with a pitch, McCurry came on and retired three-straight Red Raiders to seal the win. McCurry's save was his sixth of the season and the 14th of his career, tying him for second on OSU's all-time list with Rob Linfante and Dennis Livingtston. Jordy Mercer owns the record with 17.

The two teams return to action Saturday at 3 p.m.

 

ORU evens season record with SLC win over Bearkats

TULSA, Okla. – A five-run seventh inning helped the Oral Roberts University baseball team to a 7-4 victory in a Southland Conference series opener against Sam Houston State on Friday evening at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

The win brought the ORU overall season record to .500 at 14-14 and improved the Golden Eagles' conference record to 4-6. The Bearkats dropped into a tie with ORU in the conference standings with a 4-6 record and fell to 19-11 overall.

Matt Brandy had two hits, including a double, and two runs batted in, and Audie Afenir added a pair of RBI singles in the contest. Austen Colt had a double and scored on a two-RBI single by Jose Trevino in the five-run seventh inning.

Freshman hurler Kyler Stout (1-0) earned his first career victory in relief as he went 2.2 innings, allowing just one hit and one run. Fellow freshman Hayden Holley (1) entered in the top of the eighth for his first career save.

Kurt Giller started the game on the bump for the Golden Eagles and allowed three runs on five hits in five innings of work.

The Golden Eagle offense knocked around Bearkat starter Tyler Eppler (4-4), who took the loss, as they tagged him for five runs in 6.2 innings. Dylan Ebbs had a two-RBI ground rule double for the Bearkats, while Anthony Azar and Carter Burgess each reached twice with hits.

ORU got on the board in the bottom of the second as Brandy led off the inning with a single and scored on a single through the left side by Anthony Sequeira. Two batters later, Afenir earned his first RBI single of the game, driving in Tyler Boss to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead.

However, Ebbs answered for the Bearkats in the top of the third with a shot to the warning track in straight-away center that bounced over the wall for a ground rule double, driving in Shea Pierce and Carter Burgess, tying the game at two.

In the top half of the fifth, SHSU took a 3-2 lead after a passed ball set up a sacrifice fly by Corey Toups that plated Burgess from third.

The Bearkats threatened in the top of the sixth to expand their lead, loading the bases with just one out, but Stout pitched out of the jam by striking out Burgess and getting Ebbs to fly out to end the inning.

In the seventh, the Golden Eagles regained the lead and broke the game open. Afenir drove in the tying run with a single back up the middle. Following Colt's double to put a pair of runners in scoring position for the Golden Eagles, Trevino delivered a two-out, two-run single to give ORU a 5-3 lead.

Two batters later, with runners on corners, Brandy hit a shot of the base of the wall in center to bring home Trevino and Logan Domenico to extend the ORU lead to 7-3.

The Bearkats loaded the bases in the top of the eighth and Azar scored on a wild pitch to make it a 7-4 contest, but Holley was able to get ORU out of the inning with a fly ball to right field.

ORU will look to clinch the series in game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. at J.L. Johnson Stadium.

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