OU Baseball: Sooners Pick Up Series Win

The No. 23 Oklahoma baseball team secured its second straight Big 12 road series with a 10-2 decision over West Virginia in front of 1,189 at Monongalia County Ballpark, Sunday afternoon. The Sooners improved to 26-16 overall and 10-5 in conference, while the Mountaineers dropped to 22-13 and 5-7.

“I'm impressed with our team's toughness,” coach Pete Hughes said. “They really bounce back well after losses, they win rubber-matches and do it on the road. That's 10 in a row to finish a weekend and that's never getting too down or too complacent. This is a really tough place to play against a really tough team and I'm really impressed with our team.”

Trailing 2-1 after four, Oklahoma put a five spot on the board in the fifth and added four more in the sixth. The fifth started with a one-out single by junior first baseman Kolbey Carpenter and a walk to redshirt-senior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh. Junior center fielder Craig Aikin tied the game with a base hit up the middle and the Sooners went in front on a base hit through the left side from junior catcher Anthony Hermelyn.

The fifth continued as sophomore shortstop Sheldon Neuse lined his first of two doubles into the right field corner that plated one run. Two more came in on a hard-grounder out of the first baseman's glove off the bat of junior left fielder Hunter Haley, who picked up one RBI on the error.

Oklahoma's offense continued to roll in the sixth starting with a single through the right-side by Carpenter. The Sooners needed to rally with two outs and Hermelyn was hit by a pitch and Neuse walked to load the bases. Redshirt-senior pitcher Robert Tasin helped his own cause with a single to right that plated two runs. Haley followed with a double down the right field line and OU's lead went to 10-2.

“We needed that and we need it to be where we want to be in the end,” Hughes said of his team's offensive production. “We used a lot of guys this weekend, we have a lot of really good baseball players in our program and I'm happy with our depth.”

As the Sooner offense went, so did the right-hander Tasin (7-1). He dominated the middle innings with a seven-pitch fifth and a six-pitch sixth; erasing a lead-off single on a 6-4-3 groundball-double play. Tasin pitched a career-best 7.2 innings; scattering six hits and three walks, yielding just two unearned runs.

“Robert is a super dependable strike-thrower with good stuff,” continued Hughes. “He's going to compete and never panic. That skill-set alone puts him in a good position to win.”

The day started off with a two-out rally for Oklahoma in the top of the first. Aikin hustled out a double and scored on a Hermelyn single. The home half of the first got underway with a lead-off single by third baseman Justin Fox. A pair of two-out walks loaded the bases and an error at second brought in two to give West Virginia a 2-1 lead.

Right-hander Chad Donato (5-4) lasted 5.2 innings in the start for the Mountaineers. He surrendered 10 runs, nine of which were earned, on 11 hits and five walks, while striking out three.

For the game, the Sooners outhit WVU, 15-6. Aikin led the way with a 4-for-6 afternoon with two runs scored and one driven in. Neuse went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored and one RBI. Carpenter notched a three-hit day, while Hermelyn added two with two RBI. Haley drove in a team-high three runs.

Junior lefty Jacob Evans finished the game for OU by striking out each of the four batters he faced.

Oklahoma returns home for a five-game this week starting Tuesday night at 6:00 pm against Alcorn State.

Notes:

· The Sooners used their 27th lineup of the season.

· Kolbey Carpenter started all three games of the series at a different position (2B, LF, 1B).

· Craig Aikin picked up his team-leading 11th double of the season and his 17th multi-hit game as well as his second four-hit game.

· Oklahoma starting pitchers have lasted six or more innings in 22 of 42 games this season and through the seventh 12 times.

· Sheldon Neuse recorded his first two-double game of the season and fourth of his career. He last doubled twice at Oklahoma State (4/15/14) in an 18-inning game.

· Taylor Alspaugh reached base for the 17th game in a row.

· The Sooners last scored double-digit runs in a 13-3 win at Baylor (3/29/15).

· Oklahoma has scored 10 or more runs in a game six times this season.

· The Sooners have won 10 in a row on Sundays and are 10-1 with the only loss coming to Notre Dame (2/15/15).