The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
Baseball falls 2-1 to Oklahoma State in 11 innings
04.18.2008 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 20 Texas Longhorns lost to the No. 18 Oklahoma State Cowboys, 2-1, in 11 innings Friday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Texas (23-14, 8-8 Big 12) received a solid pitching performance from Chance Ruffin. The freshman northpaw yielded just one run on six hits while striking out seven without walking a batter over 10 innings. He became the first Texas pitcher to work extra innings in a start since Justin Simmons accomplished the feat with 10 innings of shutout ball in a 2-0 win over Stanford on March 29, 2002.
Oklahoma State (25-11, 9-7 Big 12) also received a strong outing from its starter as Andrew Oliver went eight innings, allowing one run on three hits and four walks while striking out seven. Matt Hague (1-0) earned the win with three innings of shutout relief, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out two.
The Cowboys scored the game-winning run in the 11th inning. Cole Green issued a walk to OSU's Donnie Webb to start the inning. Webb advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jordy Mercer. Pat McCrory came in to relieve Green and with the infield pulled in induced a ground ball by Hague which was misplayed by Longhorns' second baseman Michael Torres driving in Webb for the go-ahead win. McCrory got Texas out of the inning without further damage, but the Horns were unable to mount a rally in the home half of the 11th inning.
In a pitcher's duel, Oklahoma State drew first blood in the top of the seventh. Dean Green hit a leadoff single up the middle. Luis Flores faked a sacrifice bunt and slapped a hit in the spot vacated by the UT shortstop going to cover second base. The play resulted with OSU runners on second and third. Ruffin fanned the next Cowboys' batter, but Rebel Ridling drove in Rafael Thomas, who was pinch-running for Green, with a fielder's choice groundout.
Preston Clark knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh with a two-out solo home run deep over the leftfield fence.
Torres tied the school record for longest hit streak at 24 games when he singled to lead off the ninth inning. With one out, Russell Moldenhauer hit a pinch-hit single up through the middle to put runners at first and third. The Longhorns were unable to push Torres across as Kawika Emsley-Pai struck out and after Kyle Russell was intentionally walked, Kyle Lusson grounded out to second base.
Both squads were limited to six hits over the 11 innings, with Texas' Brandon Belt and OSU's Thomas Belza each logging two hits to lead all hitters. Clark's home run was the only extra-base hit of the game.
Texas and Oklahoma State return to action on Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Augie Garrido
On pitcher Chance Ruffin and the game: Chance was brilliant. Their pitcher was brilliant. It was a great college pitching duel. It was about as good as you're going to get between two college pitchers. The game was pretty much even. The scoreboard really reflected the evenness of the game. The separation came in the 11th inning. Outside of that it was just a straightforward clean well-played game.
DH Preston Clark
On his home run: It was all emotional. We were trying to build something and take momentum from Oklahoma State. [Andrew Oliver] is a great pitcher and he pitched really well. He worked off his fastball and he was throwing in the low 90's. It's hard to hit a guy like that and I finally got a pitch I could drive and I did it. A lot of time we go off of momentum we're having. We go off the crowd and whatever we can find, so I was just trying to do something to get the crowd into it a little more and try to rouse some of the other guys to the top of their potential. We gave it a run, we made it a battle and I think even though we lost it's still positive for us. We haven't played this well in awhile and it shows that we're coming together as a team.
P Chance Ruffin
On his pitching tonight: We played really well. We came out today ready to play. At the end of the game, I was just going off of adrenaline. I feel pretty good right now.
2B Michael Torres
On being unable to capitalize on the bases loaded in the ninth: It's a little disappointing, but we got something going in the ninth and it's more than we have been doing in the late innings. We had a little rally going, [Russell] Moldenhauer came up with a hit and we were in a situation to win a game. That's a much bigger improvement than the past. For a while, we hadn't been able to get a rally going or get runners in position late in the game, so it's definitely a step forward for us.
On the team's attitude: We feel like up until the end of the game we played a really flawless game from the get go today. It seemed like the spirit in the dugout was at a different level, everyone seemed to be on the same page today and it seemed to pay off for a while.
