Saturday Baseball Recap

OSU Splits Doubleheader With Oakland

Oklahoma State opened Saturday with a 10-4 win over Oakland but couldn't complete the doubleheader sweep as the Golden Grizzlies held off a late rally by the 18th-ranked Cowboys and took the nightcap, 10-7, at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

OSU's win in the opener was its seventh in a row, marking the best start to a season since the 1995 Cowboys went 11-0, but the winning streak came to an end after the Pokes left the bases loaded in the final inning of the second game.

"Oakland did a nice job – they pitched better than we did, they swung the bat better than we did and they handled certain situations better than we did," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "You're not going to win a ballgame if you're not sound in all those areas. We did not play well enough to win, and they did.

"Disappointed we didn't finish the day, disappointed we let someone else walk into our ballpark and beat us, but that's the game of baseball. There are two types of responses here, and I'm looking for the positive type (Sunday) out of our team."

OSU (7-1) jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in Saturday's opener.

After a leadoff walk to Tim Arakawa in the bottom of the first, Donnie Walton got things started with an RBI double, and two batters later, Zach Fish made it 3-0 with a two-run home run, his second round tripper of the season.

The Cowboys pushed their lead to 4-0 after five innings as Thomas Hatch had another strong outing on the mound. The freshman right-hander kept the visitors off the scoreboard until the sixth when he allowed his only two runs of the game.

But after Oakland cut its deficit in half, the Cowboys got the runs back in the bottom of the sixth on RBIs from Dustin Williams and Saulyer Saxon.

OSU put the game away with a four-run rally in the eighth. Andrew Rosa got the scoring started with a bases-loaded, two-RBI single, and Bryan Case drove in a run with a sacrifice bunt. The Cowboys made it 10-3 when Walton picked up his fourth hit of the contest, an RBI double.

Hatch earned the win on the mound to improve to 2-0 as he allowed two runs on five hits. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.

OSU's starter in the nightcap, junior Tyler Nurdin, did not fare as well. The southpaw was tagged for three runs in the first and left in the fourth inning after giving up seven runs on seven hits.

The Cowboys trailed 7-3 going into the final inning, but Oakland added three insurance runs against reliever Kyle Bagnell to push its lead to seven.

Those runs proved crucial when OSU mounted a rally in its final at bat.

Saulyer Saxon got things going with a one-out double, and following an Arakawa single, Walton again delivered, this time with a two-RBI single up the middle to make it 10-5.

Following a strikeout, back-to-back walks to Fish and Conor Costello loaded the bases. Corey Hassel then drew the third-straight walk to bring home a run, and Ryan Sluder followed with an infield single, the first hit of his career, to cut Oakland's lead to three.

That brought pinch hitter Aaron Cornell to the plate, but he lined out to shortstop to end the game.

OSU had 21 hits on the day but left 24 runners stranded on the base paths. Walton carried the offensive attack as he went 6-for-10 with a homer, three doubles and five RBIs. That included a career-high four hits in the opener and tying a career best with three RBIs in the nightcap.

The two teams close out the four-game series Sunday at noon.

Sooners Fall To UCF

The University of Oklahoma baseball team's five-game winning streak was snapped in a 4-1 loss to the University of Central Florida in front of 1,493 fans at Jay Bergman Field on Saturday night. The Sooners dropped to 5-2, while the Knights improved to 4-2.

It was a pitcher's duel between UCF right-hander Spencer Davis and the OU bullpen. The Knights totaled six hits, while the Sooners managed just five. Davis (2-0) tossed 6.2 innings and allowed one unearned run on three hits and four walks, while striking out four.

For Oklahoma, redshirt-sophomore lefty Adam Choplick ran into trouble in the fourth inning and was credited for all four runs, all earned, on five hits, three hit batsmen and a walk in 3.2 innings. Choplick (1-1) also struck out three batters in the outing. The Sooner bullpen totaled 4.1 innings of work, led by three-hitless innings from redshirt-senior right-hander Drew Krittenbrink. He struck out a career-high six batters and was relieved by redshirt-junior Robert Tasin, who tossed 1.1-shutout innings.

Oklahoma took the first lead of the game in the top of the third inning without a hit in the frame. Sophomore left fielder Hunter Haley reached on a two-out, two-base error by the UCF catcher, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a strikeout-error.

The Knights answered in the bottom half with a two-out base hit to left by center fielder Derek Salberg. In the fourth inning, the UCF offense went to work quickly. First baseman James Vasquez singled, left fielder Erik Barber was hit by a pitch and right fielder Sam Tolleson laid down a bunt-single to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout, Choplick walked a batter to score one run then threw a wild pitch, which allowed another. The third run of the inning came on Choplick's third hit batter of the frame.

The Sooners attempted a two-out rally in the seventh inning. Sophomore center fielder Craig Aikin got things started with a walk and was followed by a single from Haley. Freshman shortstop Sheldon Neuse then walked on four pitches to load the bases, but UCF countered by bringing a lefty out of the bullpen to retire freshman DH Niko Buentello.

Again, Oklahoma rallied in the ninth and brought the potential game-tying run to the plate after junior catcher Mac James and Haley singled. Neuse approached the plate as the game-tying run and flew out to the warning track in left field to end the game.

Salberg finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double; the game's only extra-base hit. For OU, Haley was 2-for-5 with one run scored.

Oral Roberts Falls To Texas Tech

A home run in the sixth inning was too much for the Oral Roberts University baseball team to overcome as they fell in game two of a three-game set at Texas Tech, 7-2. The Golden Eagles dropped to 1-5 on the season, while the Red Raiders improved to 5-1 overall.

Emmanual Forcier and Matt Brandy each had RBI singles in the game, while Tyler Boss had the lone extra-base hit for ORU in the contest, as double. Joey Migliaccio and Austen Colt each added singles.

Guillermo Trujillo (0-1) took the loss in his second start of the season as he allowed six runs on eight hits in 5.2 innings. Trujillo stuck our four batters in the contest, including all three Red Raiders in the bottom of the fifth. Kyler Stout made his ORU debut and held the Red Raiders hitless in their final two innings with two strikeouts.

Taking the ball to start for Tech was Matt Withrow who struck out six Golden Eagle batters in five innings. Corey Taylor (1-0) entered in the top of the sixth and earned the victory.

Much like Friday's contest, Tech started the game with an early an 1-0 lead after the first inning of play. Ryan Long led off with a single to right center that the skirted under Logan Domenico's glove, allowing him to go to second. Two batters later, he scored on a Jake Barrios groundout.

In the top of the third, ORU tied the game as Brandon Healy walked and scored on a Brandy single to right.

Unfortunately, the Red Raiders broke the game open in the top of the sixth. After two straight singles by Barrios and Eric Gutierrez, followed by a Adam Kirsh walk to load the bases, Tyler Neslony struck with his second grand slam of the season into the right field bullpen to give the Red Raiders a 5-1 lead.

Already leading with two on base and two outs, Long picked up his second hit of the game with a single to center to drive in Todd Rickie and made the score 6-1.

The Golden Eagles cut into the Red Raiders' 6-1 lead in the top of the seventh. Migliaccio and Colt started the inning with singles, setting up an RBI single to center by Forcier.

Tech answered with their final run of the afternoon as Barrios doubled and scored on a Kirsch sacrifice fly for the final 7-2 output.

Domenico had a 23-game on-base streak snapped in the contest, while Boss extended his own on-base streak to 13 games.

Game three of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday in Lubbock.