Sooners Grab Series-Opener At Texas, OSU, ORU Fall On The Road

OU

AUSTIN, Texas—Oklahoma rolled into Austin Friday night to take on Texas, hoping to vanquish a litany of disappointments suffered at the hands of the Longhorns. The Sooners took care of some of them Friday night thanks to a 2-1 series-opening win at Disch-Falk Field.

It was the first series-opening victory in Austin for OU since 1998 and the first series-opening win against Texas, period, since 2002.

Jonathan Gray picked up the win for the Sooners, pitching 6.2 innings and giving up a single unearned run on seven hits. Gray struck out eight Longhorn batters. Jake Fisher struck out three of the five batters he faced, giving up just a single hit in 1.1 innings of relief, while Jacob Evans worked the ninth for the save.

Oklahoma scored in the top of the first inning on a Matt Oberste sacrifice fly that scored Craig Aikin. Oberste didn't get a hit in the game, snapping his 30-game hit streak.

Texas rallied in the bottom of third when Mark Gottsacker singled to start the inning. Gottsacker advanced to second on a fly out, moved to third on a passed ball, and finally scored on a wild pitch from Gray.

The Sooners responded in the sixth inning when Kolbey Carpenter scored the go-ahead run from second base on a single from Anthony Hermelyn.

OSU

LAWRENCE, Kan.—Oklahoma State returned to the road for the first time in nearly two months Friday night and suffered a 7-5 loss to Kansas at Hoglund Ballpark.

Playing away from Stillwater for the first time since Feb. 17, the No. 19 Cowboys fell behind by seven runs after four innings and a late comeback bid fell short as they dropped to 21-7 overall and 3-3 in Big 12 Conference play.

Jason Hursh suffered his second-straight loss on the mound as the sophomore allowed seven runs, four of them earned, on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. The right-hander also surrendered four walks as he fell to 3-2 on the season.

Kansas (17-11, 4-3) took advantage of an OSU error in the bottom of the third inning to plate its first three runs. Following a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt, Michael Suiter, who was 4-for-5 in the contest, singled to put Jayhawks on first and third. Up next, Alex DeLeon, sent a grounder to third that Robbie Rea fielded and fired home. However, Cowboy catcher Victor Romero was unable to make the catch as KU's first run scored.

Later in the inning, the Jayhawks got RBI singles from Dakota Smith and Jacob Boylan to add two more unearned runs and make the score 3-0.

KU rallied for four more runs in the fourth to drive Hursh from the game. It marked the first time in eight starts this season that Hursh had failed to work at least six innings.

In the fourth, Suiter collected two RBIs on a double, and Boylan picked up a two-RBI single to give the Jayhawks a 7-0 lead.

The Cowboys finally got to KU starter Thomas Taylor (3-0) in the fifth. After a one-out double by Gage Green and a walk to Donnie Walton, Saulyer Saxon brought home both runners with an opposite-field double to trim OSU's deficit to 7-2.

Following Hursh's rough start, Reid Barnett came on in relief and kept KU off the scoreboard for 3 1/3 innings as he allowed just two hits. The appearance was just the fifth of the year for Barnett, who worked as many innings against KU as he had in his previous four outings combined.

In the eighth inning, OSU would mount another rally. Tanner Krietemeier got things started with a leadoff double, and a walk to Fish and an infield single by Romero loaded the bases with no outs. Randy McCurry then singled to make it 7-3, and Rea followed with a sacrifice fly to trim KU's lead to three.

The Cowboys weren't done as Walton collected an RBI off Jordan Piche' before the KU closer got Saxon to ground out to escape further damage.

In the ninth, OSU brought the tying run to the plate after a one-out walk to Krietemeier, but Fish grounded into a double play to end the game.

Saxon, Walton, Romero and Green each collected two hits for the Cowboys, who finished with 11 in the game.

The two teams will return to action Saturday at 2 p.m.

ORU

NACOGDOCHES, Texas—A home run and a double from Tyler Boss wasn't enough for Oral Roberts Friday night as they fell to Stephen F. Austin in the ninth on the road, 6-5.

Boss started the ninth inning with a double to center. After he advanced to third on a groundout by pinch hitter Joey Migliaccio, Kevin Cho ripped a single back up the middle to score Boss to tie the game at five.

However, in the bottom of the inning, the Lumberjacks loaded the bases with a single from Rene Moreda, a bunt single off the bat of Brett Thornell and an intentional walk to Hunter Dozier with no outs.

Freddy Villalobos ended the contest with a sac fly to center to score Moreda.

ORU drops to 9-19 overall and 4-3 in Southland play, while the Lumberjacks move to 13-16 and 3-4 in the SLC. The Golden Eagles look to snap their current skid on Saturday afternoon in the second game of the series at 2 p.m.

ORU opened the scoring in the top of the third inning.

Cho singled up the middle and Austen Colt reached on a bunt single to get the inning started. Following a second consecutive bunt that moved both runners up a base, Graham McIntyre drove in Cho.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the Jacks to answer. In the bottom of the inning, SFA added a pair of singles of their own from Zach Benson and Moreda. Thornell followed Moreda with a pop into foul ground, caught by Nate Goro running away from the infield, but deep enough to score Benson to tie the game.

Much like the third, the Golden Eagles started the fourth with a couple of hits, this time Jose Trevino led off with a single and Matt Brandy hit a double just inside the left field line.

Boss then picked up his first RBI of the contest with a deep sacrifice fly to the warning track in left-center to push Trevino across. The Golden Eagles added a second run in the inning with a sac bunt from Cho to score Brandy.

The Jacks yet again answered the Golden Eagle scoring in the bottom of the inning as their big offensive threat, Hunter Dozier, reached with a leadoff single through the left side, scoring with two outs on a SFA groundout.

Trevino ended the third inning by throwing out Moreda trying to steal second. It was Trevino's 11th runner he has thrown out trying to steal this season.

ORU hold its 3-1 lead until the top of the sixth with Boss blasted a shot over the wall in left-center for his second home run of the season.

Boss finished the game with two extra-base hits, two runs and a pair of RBI's. Cho also finished with two hits and two RBI's.

But for the third time in the game, the Jacks answered in the bottom of the inning, taking the lead on three hits, and a walk.

In the inning, Freddy Vallalobos drew a walk and scored on a Max Lamantia double down the left field line. Lamantia then scored as Mackenzie Handel singled and Matthew Dickey, who entered to pinch run for Handel, scored a couple of batters later on a Joseph Olson single up the middle.

Alex Gonzalez, who got the start of the Golden Eagles, turned the ball over to Alec Smith after the first batter of the seventh. Gonzalez allowed nine hits and five earned runs, but struck out seven batters.

Smith earned the loss in the contest with an earned run on four hits. He struck out three batters