The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma State
Baseball opens Big 12 series with 8-5 win at Oklahoma State
03.28.2013 | Baseball
March 28, 2013
STILLWATER, Okla. - Freshmen C.J Hinojosa and Jeremy Montalbano tallied three RBI each Thursday as the Texas Longhorns opened a Big 12 series with an 8-5 win against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Hinojosa had a season high for RBI and now has five in two games while Montalbano hit a three-run home run for the second time this season.
Freshman left-hander Travis Duke picked up his first collegiate win with three scoreless innings of relief for UT starter Parker French. Corey Knebel picked up his sixth save of the season and has a win and three straight saves in four straight appearances.
Texas (16-9, 2-2) picked up its fourth straight win while dropping Oklahoma State to 19-6 overall, 1-2 in Big 12 action. Tonight was just the fifth time in 22 games that Oklahoma State has lost at home this season.
The Longhorns roughed up OSU starter Jason Hursh (3-1), who had only allowed six runs all season. Hursh gave up eight runs (six earned) on 13 hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
Erich Weiss led with a 3-for-4 night for the Longhorns while Mark Payton went 2-for-5 to extend his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. Robbie Rea went 2-for-3 for the Cowboys with two doubles and two RBI.
Weston Hall singled in the top of the first and scored on Weiss' double. Payton then brought home Weiss with a single for the early 2-0 lead for the Longhorns.
Aaron Cornell hit French's 0-2 pitch down the left field line for a double in the Oklahoma State first before scoring on Tanner Krietemeier's RBI single to cut the deficit, 2-1.
Randy McCurry hit an infield single in the OSU second as French walked Robbie Rea to put runners at first and second. After a sacrifice by Saulyer Saxon, second baseman Donnie Walton hit a grounder to third as McCurry scored to tie it at 2-2. Gage Green then hit a single to right as Payton's throw from right skipped under of Montalbano at the plate as the Cowboys took the 3-2 lead.
Weiss singled to left in the top of the Longhorns' fourth and moved to third on Payton's double. Hinojosa then hit a grounder to second, scoring Weiss to tie it at 3-3. Alex Silver was hit by a pitch before Montalbano unleashed a three-run homer to left to cap the four-run inning for the 6-3 Texas advantage.
Back-to-back singles helped the Cowboys produce a run in the third as Rea's grounder to second made it 6-4 for Texas.
The Longhorns were able to get runners on second and third in the fifth with two outs as Hinojosa hit a chopper up the middle that took a Texas bounce into center field for the 8-4 score.
Ty Marlow struck out the side in the seventh, but Oklahoma State touched him up for one run in the eighth. Victor Romero and Rea hit doubles to make it 8-5 Texas, but Hinojosa and Brooks Marlow made spectacular defensive plays on consecutive at-bats to end the eighth.
The series continues tomorrow at 7 p.m. with Saturday's series finale at 3 p.m. Both games will feature live radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Texas has recorded double-digit hits in four straight games...Texas batters from 2 through 8 in the batting order registered at least one hit tonight...Texas is 12-2 this season when scoring first...Weston Hall extended his streak of reaching base safely to 15 straight games...Travis Duke now has a 0.98 ERA on the season...Parker French threw three innings for the Longhorns after missing last week's scheduled start as a precaution due to tendonitis in his right elbow...Texas is batting .338 in the last four games...with 13 hits tonight, Texas was one hit away from its season high (14), set in the season opener on Feb. 15 against Sacramento State.
TEXAS 204-200-000---8-13-1 OSU 121-000-010---5-11-2
Records: Texas (16-9, 2-2), Oklahoma State (19-6, 1-2) WP - Duke (1-0) LP - Hursh (3-1) S - Knebel (6) T - 2:43 ATT - 1,112
French, Duke (4), T. Marlow (7), Knebel (8) and Montalbano. Hursh, Gehrs (8) and Romero.
Post Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On strong defense in tonight's game: You saw some great defensive plays up the middle. We talked about getting the middle infielders to another level and they certainly showed it tonight. That was a big part of it to go with the offense.
On hitting a fast ball pitcher like OSU's Jason Hursh: The fast ball in college baseball, unless it's located right, supplies the power for the hitter. If it's elevated and the players know it's coming, even a pitcher like Corey (Knebel), who throws 95-96 has to mix in the breaking ball to keep them off balance. It just matters how the hitting techniques are in college baseball.
On Parker French's performance: Parker was a little tentative tonight and not extending all the way through. He didn't have the overall stuff, but after you come back from a strain like and haven't pitched in a few weeks in a game situation, sometimes you get a little careful. I think he will be a lot better next time.
