The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
No. 1 Baseball outlasts Oklahoma, 2-0 in 10 innings
04.15.2005 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Drew Stubbs (Atlanta, Texas) hit a two-out, home run over the left-field scoreboard with one runner on in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift No. 1 Texas (30-6, 7-5 Big 12) to a 2-0 victory over Oklahoma (20-13, 5-5 Big 12) in front of 6,213 fans at Disch-Falk Field on Friday, April 15. While the round-tripper marked Stubbs' second game-winning walk-off home run of the season and accounted for his club-best fifth game-winning RBI, the shutout marked the Horns' eighth of the season as starter Kyle McCulloch (Houston, Texas) and reliever J. Brent Cox (Bay City, Texas) combined for 10 shutout innings on the mound.
The game settled into a pitcher's duel from the outset as McCulloch for Texas and Daniel McCutchen for Oklahoma managed to limit the two offenses to a combined four singles over the first four innings. In the fifth, both UT and OU placed a runner on third with two outs, but again McCulloch and McCutchen kept the game scoreless by inducing a foul flyout and a groundball, respectively. While both teams again threatened as the Horns received a leadoff triple from Nick Peoples (Round Rock, Texas) to open the sixth and the Sooners came up with back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the frame, McCutchen struck out the side and McCulloch retired his next batter on a fly ball to move the game to the seventh tied at 0-0.
Despite chances on both sides between the seventh and eighth, the game remained a scoreless deadlock into the ninth as McCutchen worked two shutout innings and McCulloch put up zeroes in both the seventh and eighth. The Sooners would attempt to grab the lead in the top of the ninth when first baseman Kevin Smith doubled with two outs and advanced to third on a wild pitch. J. Brent Cox (Bay City, Texas), who relieved McCulloch to begin the inning, then struck out the next batter he faced to end the threat. Following a quiet bottom of the ninth and top of the 10th, the Longhorns put their leadoff batter on as Clay Van Hook (Brenham, Texas) reached on an error. After a sacrifice bunt moved Van Hook into scoring position Stubbs came to the plate with two outs and on the first pitch he saw connected on his team-leading seventh home run of the year to give UT a 2-0 victory. While Cox picked up his fifth win by hurling two shutout innings in relief, Oklahoma reliever John Brownell shouldered the loss.
Paving the way for Texas was Stubbs, who went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two RBI, Peoples, who also tallied a pair of hits and McCulloch, who scattered six hits over eight scoreless innings while striking out three. The Sooners, meanwhile, were led by Smith, who went 3-for-4, and McCutchen, who fanned a career-high 10 over nine scoreless innings in a no-decision.
This series continues on Saturday, April 16, at Disch-Falk Field with a 6 p.m. Central contest presented by Time Warner Cable and televised by Fox Sports Net.
