The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma rallies for 4-2 win over Baseball
04.07.2013 | Baseball
April 7, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - Hector Lorenzana's two-run double capped a three-run eighth inning Sunday for the No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners in a 4-2 win over the Texas Longhorns to clinch the Big 12 series. Oklahoma (27-6, 7-2) earned its first series win over Texas (17-13, 3-6) since 1998.
Corey Knebel (3-2) took the loss after allowing all three runs in the eighth despite a strong outing by UT starter Nathan Thornhill, who tied a career best with seven strikeouts. Thornhill allowed just one unearned run on four hits in seven innings of work with no walks. Erich Weiss went 1-for-4 with two RBI while C.J Hinojosa extended his season-high hitting streak to 10 games with a 1-for-3 game.
Billy Waltrip was credited with the win after pitching to only one batter in the seventh. Jacob Evans picked up his fifth save on the year with two scoreless innings of relief. Jake Mayfield and Max White recorded three hits each for the Sooners.
The Sooners jumped on the scoreboard first in the top of the second with an unearned run from designated hitter Kolbey Carpenter, who reached on a fielding error by Hinojosa. Garrett Carey hit a chopper near Thornhill with two outs and Carpenter at third, but Thornhill's errant throw scored the run for the Sooners.
With two outs in the bottom on the third, Weiss tripled to left center to plate Ben Johnson and Brooks Marlow as Texas took the 2-1 lead.
Mayfield led off the eighth with a single off Knebel. Craig Aikin dropped a bunt with Knebel having a chance to get the lead out, but he bobbled the ball and retired Aikin at first. Mayfield then got to third on a Knebel wild pitch and White blooped a single over Marlow at second to tie the game. Knebel struck out Matt Oberste before giving up a single to Carpenter. Lorenzana then laced the two-run double to left center as the Sooners took the lead for good.
Texas hosts Texas State in a non-conference game this Saturday (April 9) at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Longhorn Network will televise the game with live radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Mark Payton extended his streak of reaching base safely to 19 games...Nathan Thornhill struck out seven batters for the fourth time in his career (June 5, 2011, vs. Kent State, March 16, 2012, vs. Oklahoma and March 17, 2013, vs. Texas Tech)...C.J Hinojosa's current 10-game hitting streak is the second-best for Texas this season.
OU 010-000-030---4-8-1 TEXAS 002-000-000---2-4-2
Records: Texas (17-13, 3-6), Oklahoma (27-6, 7-2) WP - Waltrip (2-1) LP - Knebel (3-2) S - Evans (5) T - 2:50 ATT - 6,246
Choplick, Fisher (3), Garza, Jr. (4), Waltrip (7), Evans (8) and Hermelyn. Thornhill, Knebel (8) and Felts.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas assistant coach Skip Johnson
On thoughts about Corey Knebel's showing today: He's human. I mean everybody is going to walk out and fail. It is part of baseball and we threw him back out there to show we had the confidence in him in the ninth. It happens in baseball.
On how does it resonate with the coaches that Texas had Oklahoma on the ropes: I think it is the phases of the game like (coach Augie Garrido) talks about all the time; pitching good, hitting good, and playing defense. I think that is what it is. We did that this weekend. We didn't get the key hit at the right time or didn't make the right pitch at the right time and that is baseball. We got to go on and keep going after it the rest of the year. You can accomplish amazing things if you don't care who gets the credit.
On thoughts about little wiggle room in college baseball since it is more pitching duels than hitting shootouts: I don't think so. I think the biggest thing today in college baseball is the bat and I think there are some things--of course you want to pitch and play error-free defense, but we are dealing with college athletes. We come out here and work hard every day and they have been pretty good so far. We just got to keep it one day at a time, one pitch at a time--that is what we talk about--one game at a time.
Junior pitcher Nathan Thornhill
On what head coach Augie Garrido said in locker room: He pointed out that these last two games we played were quality baseball games and we just had a few mistakes here and there. But we need to build our confidence up of how we play as a team because we played as one and we grinded it out. We just had a few mistakes here and there and once we fix those I think we will be looking on the other end of this loss.
On a frustrating loss: All I can do is my part and baseball is a team game. Corey Knebel has been in that situation before millions of times and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I have a lot of confidence in him and it just so happened that they beat him today in a few pitches. We pointed it out in the locker room and all said, `Corey, it is a team game buddy.' We trust him in that role every time and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Junior right fielder Mark Payton
On team's feelings in the locker room: It hurts and it kills us. We were all dead silent in there. It hurts a lot right now, but we are going to learn from it and move forward.
On what point does the team start thinking about needing to win games to get into the postseason: You can't think about winning because if you are trying to win you are putting too much pressure on yourself. We are just trying to go out there trying to win each pitch and hopefully everything else will take care of itself.
Junior third baseman Erich Weiss
On thoughts about losing the series: We all want to win so definitely when we are in a close game like that and we come out on bottom it is hard to take in but it is just like Coach Augie Garrido says, we have to learn from our losses. These two games have been some of the best two games we have played all year and we just need to keep that in mind and move forward to the next game.
On how frustrating is it to play team's best ball and come out with a loss: It's very frustrating but we are all putting our best efforts out on the field and sometimes it doesn't work out.
