The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
Baseball drops Big 12 series opener to Oklahoma, 2-1
04.05.2013 | Baseball
April 5, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - Jonathan Gray allowed just one unearned run in 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts Friday as the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners opened a Big 12 series with the 2-1 win over the Texas Longhorns. Oklahoma (26-5, 6-1) won for just the second time in the last 15 games in the series against Texas (16-12, 2-5) as Anthony Hermelyn's RBI single in the sixth proved to be the difference.
Freshman outfielder Mark Gottsacker made his second start of the season for the Longhorns, recording two hits. His single in the third was his first collegiate hit. Parker French (3-2) took the loss after allowing only two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. Ty Marlow, Josh Urban, Travis Duke and Chad Hollingsworth combined to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.
Two players saw their extended hitting streaks snapped tonight as OU's Matt Oberste went 0-for-3 to end his 30-game hitting streak while UT's Mark Payton also went 0-for-3 as his career-high hitting streak ended at 16 games.
Craig Aikin and Max White delivered back-to-back singles as Oberste's sacrifice fly to left plated Aikin for the first run of the game in the first.
In the Texas third, Gottsacker reached on a single and in a heads-up play after Ben Johnson flew out to center, he advanced to second. A passed ball allowed Gottsacker to reach third and would later score on Gray's wild pitch to tie the game.
Kolbey Carpenter singled with one out in the Oklahoma sixth as Hector Lorenzana walked for French's last batter of the game. Hermelyn then greeted reliever Ty Marlow with a hard line drive over his head for the eventual game-winning run.
Texas loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth against Gray with one out, but Gray struck out Alex Silver and induced a grounder from Brooks Marlow to end the inning. The Longhorns had another chance in the seventh with runners at second and third with two outs, but Jake Fisher struck out Erich Weiss on a full count as the Longhorns stranded nine runners in the game.
The series continues tomorrow with a 2:30 p.m. game and will be televised live on Fox Sports Net while Sunday's game starts at 2 p.m. with a telecast on Longhorn Network. Both teams will feature radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Mark Payton recorded his fifth outfield assist of the season, throwing out Hector Lorenzana in the eighth after he tried stretching a single into a double...Erich Weiss stole two bases in a game tonight, the fifth time in his career he has accomplished that feat...Weiss with two hits tonight now leads the team with 13 multi-hit games...Josh Urban has allowed only one run in his last five appearances (11 1/3 innings)..the Texas bullpen has a 1.27 ERA in its last eight games...the Longhorns recorded seven hits off Jonathan Gray, the most the Oklahoma pitcher has allowed this season.
OU 100-001-000---2-7-0 TEXAS 001-000-000---1-8-1
Records: Texas (16-12, 2-5), Oklahoma (26-5, 6-1) WP - Gray (6-1) LP - French (3-2) S - Evans (5) T - 2:49 ATT - 6,411
Gray, Fisher (7), Evans (9) and Hermelyn. French, T. Marlow (6), Urban (8), Duke (9), Hollingsworth (9) and Felts.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On leaving guys stranded on base: It is a pattern that we've been in and continued tonight. We missed our opportunities. We get individual hits during the game, but don't get the momentum changer. The harder we try, the worse it will get...sooner or later we will get that hit. As we do, the confidence in those situations will go up. There's no recipe for this stuff, we just have to take it a day at a time.
On overall team effort: I don't think any of you saw the players on the field let down or give up. They played. A productive out ties the game and a base hit in the sixth and seventh wins the game. Not much difference.
On Jonathan Gray: I don't know what you know about his draft predictions but what's his top speed? Tonight he threw 98 miles-per-hour...that works. He pitched a very effective game. He's a very good pitcher.
Freshman outfielder Mark Gottsacker
On his performance: This was my second start. Something that you learn watching from the bench is that when you get your opportunity, you've got to make all of it and play as hard as you can. That's the kind of mentality I had at the plate and on the bags. I wanted to play how I used to play in high school and how I know I can play.
On getting to start against Jonathan Gray: Yeah, we've heard about him, obviously. You hear a lot about the 100 miles-per-hour pitches but it doesn't really affect the way you approach the game. You still got out there and know that he throws hard but you can still hit it. It's not untouchable. It wasn't overwhelming or anything.
