The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
No. 2 Baseball eliminates Oklahoma State from Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship
05.27.2011 | Baseball
May 27, 2011
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The No. 2 Texas Longhorns pounded out 13 hits and Cole Green improved to 7-3 on the season in a 9-3 win over the Oklahoma State at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at RedHawks Field on Friday afternoon.
The loss eliminated Oklahoma State from the tournament and the Longhorns will face the Missouri Tigers at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. If the Longhorns win Saturday morning, they will face Missouri again at 4 p.m. with a shot to go to the tournament championship game. A loss on Saturday morning would eliminate the Longhorns from the tournament.
The Cowboys drew first blood in the top of the third inning. Jared Womack dropped a hit into shallow right centerfield for a lead-off single. A sacrifice bunt by Hunter Bailey and a wild pitch put Womack at third and he scored when Devin Shines launched a two-run home run over the leftfield wall to give Oklahoma State a 2-0 lead.
The Longhorns claimed their first lead of the game with a three-run third inning. With one out, Loy reached on an infield single and stole second base. Mark Payton single up the middle to drive in Loy for Texas' first run. A fielding error by Bailey, the OSU shortstop, on a potential double play grounder by Tant Shepherd put a pair of runners on and Erich Weiss was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Paul Montalbano laced a single to leftfield to plate Payton with the tying run and Jonathan Walsh hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield sending Shepherd home for the go-ahead run and a 3-2 lead.
Texas (42-14) inflated the cushion to 6-2 with a three-run fifth inning. Payton rattled a ball around the rightfield foul line for a lead-off triple and scored when Shepherd bounced a single through the middle of a drawn-in infield. After Weiss struck out swinging, Montalbano was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. Randy McCurry came in from the bullpen to relieve starter Andrew Heaney for the Cowboys and fanned Jonathan Walsh for the second out of the inning. Cohl Walla reignited the rally with an RBI single down the leftfield line to score Shepherd. The Longhorns took a four-run lead when Womack, the OSU catcher, let a Heaney pitch get by him allowing Montalbano to score.
Oklahoma State (35-23) trimmed the margin to 6-3 when Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year Zach Johnson launched a 3-1 offering over the leftfield line to lead off the top of the sixth inning.
Texas responded with a run in the seventh with a Jordan Etier RBI single and added two more runs in the eighth on an RBI single by Montalbano and a sacrifice fly by Walsh to stake the Longhorns to a 9-3 lead.
Loy paced Texas' offense, going 3-for-4 with one double, one stolen base and one run. Payton went 2-for-4 with one triple, two runs and one RBI. Shepherd went 2-for-5 with three runs and one RBI. Montalbano batted 2-for-4 with one run and two RBI. The only batter in the Texas lineup not to get a hit was Weiss who reached three base three times, including two walks and one HBP.
Johnson went 2-for-4 with one run, one home run and one RBI to lead the Cowboys offense. Dane Phillips also added a pair of hits.
Green earned the win yielding three runs on five hits and one walk while striking out three over 6.0 innings. Nathan Thornhill, Hoby Milner and Corey Knebel scattered two hits over 3.0 innings of scoreless relief.
Andrew Heaney (7-4) was saddled with the loss for the Cowboys. He allowed six runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk while striking out three over 4.1 innings.
