Sooners Get Back in Win Column Against TCU

Originally Published: Apr 7, 2010 12:6 AM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

FORT WORTH, Texas – The OU baseball team recovered from a three-game sweep and squeaked past No. 12 TCU 4-2 Tuesday.

The Sooners (23-7) got off to a quick start in the top of the first inning, when Cameron Seitzer connected on an RBI double and Garrett Buechele followed with an RBI single to give OU a 2-0 lead. The offense was off to a hot start, but the pitching did not follow suit.

Drew Verhagen started the game for OU, but things did not go well from the beginning. He surrendered a leadoff single, and then walked two consecutive batters on five pitches each to load the bases for TCU’s cleanup hitter.

Coach Sunny Golloway pulled Verhagen after he threw 15 pitches, only five of which were strikes. Jeremy Erben entered with the bases loaded and nobody out, but a ground ball hit back to the mound allowed Erben to throw out the runner at the plate and turn a double play. He got another ground out from the next batter to get out of the inning unscathed.

Erben turned in strong pitching for the rest of the night, earning the win after scattering six hits across 7.2 innings and giving up two runs. He struck out nine of the 30 batters he faced.

The Horned Frogs (20-7) got on the board in the bottom of the second thanks to a series of Sooner mistakes. Taylor Featherston reached based on a single, but an OU throwing error allowed him to reach second.

Two batters later, Erben struck out Brance Rivera but the ball skidded away from catcher Bryan Groth, allowing Rivera to reach first and Featherston advance to second. Erben then committed a throwing error after a pickoff attempt went wrong, bringing Featherston in to score.

Erben did not surrender another run until the sixth inning, when Featherston scored again on a single by Josh Elander. That score came a half inning after the Sooners extended their lead to 3-1 on an RBI single by Cody Reine. OU then added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on an RBI triple by Danny Black.

Erben finished with the win, while Ryan Duke earned his ninth save of the season by shutting down TCU in the final inning. Paul Gerrish finished with the loss, giving up nine hits while striking out six in 6.1 innings.

The victory comes close on the heels of a series sweep at the hands of Texas, when OU managed just two total runs in three games. The Sooners will return to Big 12 play at 6:30 p.m. Friday against Missouri, the first of a three-game weekend series.