OU Baseball Takes Down Abilene Christian

The Sooners limited the Wildcats to one run for the second straight game. <br />

Thursday, March 6th 2014, 9:06 pm

By: News 9


The University of Oklahoma baseball team pushed across three run in the fourth inning to provide all of the offense in a 3-1 win over Abilene Christian at L. Dale Mitchell Park, Thursday afternoon. The Sooners improved to 9-4 with the win, while the Wildcats dropped to 6-4.

Junior catcher Mac James drove in the first run of the game on a double to right-center. Sophomore left fielder Hunter Haley walked with one out and stopped after rounding third then proceeded home with the go-ahead run. James took third on the throw home and scored on a base hit through the right side by redshirt-junior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh.

Alspaugh stole second base and was brought around to score on a double down the right field line by junior second baseman Keach Ballard.

"That was a tough game," started head coach Pete Hughes. "That was a grinder. You look at the stat sheet and we don't win that game I would imagine. How many left on base for them? Eleven. We had five. We made four errors."

Junior right-hander Connor Buchmann lasted 3.2 innings in the start for OU. He allowed two hits and walked a pair, while striking out five. Sophomore left-hander Jacob Evans was the first Sooner on in relief as he tossed 3.1-shutout innings. Evans (1-1) earned the win as he allowed five hits and struck out six, matching his career-high.

"I thought Buchmann was good," continued Hughes. "I thought we got them out of there at the right time. The best thing that came out of today was Jacob Evans feeling good about himself and having a quality outing, pitching in pressured situations and key situations and getting us out. I'm happy for Jacob. It's good for our team and Ralph is so dependable. He's going to throw strikes. He's going to throw strikes with two pitches. He's going to work fast. He's going to compete like crazy. He matched up good for us."

The first five outs recorded by Evans were all strikeouts. He induced his team-leading fourth double play of the season to end the top of the sixth.

Sophomore righty Ralph Garza Jr. came on with one out in the eighth and the bases loaded. He extinguished the situation on just three pitches as he got an inning-ending groundball double play. Garza stayed on to pitch the ninth and record his third save of the season and second in as many games.

Right-hander Nate Cole (1-2) pitched four innings in the start for ACU; taking the loss. He surrendered three runs on five hits and a walk, while striking out three.

For the game, Oklahoma was outhit, 8-7 and committed four errors; none of which led to runs.

At the plate, James finished the gay 3-for-3 with his team-leading seventh multi-hit game of the season. Catcher Seth Spivey and second baseman Gunnar Buhner each notched two hits for Abilene Christian.

logo

Get The Daily Update!

Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News 9 delivered right to your inbox!

More Like This

March 6th, 2014

March 22nd, 2024

March 14th, 2024

February 9th, 2024

Top Headlines

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024

March 28th, 2024