Greusel Strikes Out 11 As Oklahoma Beats OSU, 8-6, Wins Series

May 18, 2002

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The University of Oklahoma baseball team completed a two-games-to-one series win over arch-rival Oklahoma State with an 8-6 win in front of a sell-out crowd of 13,066 Saturday night at SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. In relief of starter Buddy Blair, senior Evan Greusel struck out a career-high 11 batters in 6.2 innings of work and won the fourth game of his career against Oklahoma State. OSU held a 5-3 lead heading into the fifth inning, however a four-run Sooner fifth propelled OU to a lead it wouldn't give up. Oklahoma improved to 33-23 on the season, including 15-12 in Big 12 action, while OSU fell to 37-19 (13-13 Big 12). The Sooners are now in sole possession of fourth play in the conference.

"Tonight's game said a lot about the maturity and character of our ball club," said Oklahoma head coach Larry Cochell. "We showed that we can come from behind and it feels great to win this series. To come back after Thursday night and win these last two games, that was just huge. Evan (Greusel) pitched an excellent game tonight and to be honest, I had no idea he had as many strikeouts as he did. He was on a roll and was getting people out."

OSU got on the board in the first inning when Josh Fields singled up the middle to score a run. It was the third time in as many games vs. OU that the Cowboys scored first. OSU added two more runs in the second inning to go up 3-0, and in the third, loaded the bases but wasn't able to bring anyone home.

Matt Fisher and Reggie Willits led off the bottom of the third with base hits, and advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Eddie Cornejo. Charlie Frasier then ripped a two-run single up the middle to bring the score to 3-2, Cowboys.

Oklahoma State extended its lead back to three when Daylon Monette smacked a two-run home run in the fourth frame, but in the bottom of the inning, Chris Jakubauskas drilled a solo homer to right to make it 5-3, OSU. The homer was Jakubauskas' eighth on the season and his second in this Bedlam series.

Oklahoma went ahead 7-5 with a huge fifth inning, in which it scored four runs on three hits. Cornejo singled -- extending his season-long hit streak to 12 games -- and after OU loaded the bases, Jakubauskas hit a sacrifice fly to score Cornejo. Matt Bose then singled up the middle to bring Charlie Frasier in, and finally, Denver Kitch roped a two-run base hit to left, plating Spencer Wyman and Bose.

In the sixth, the Sooners loaded the bases once more and Wyman grounded out to score Cornejo and extend OU's lead to 8-5. OSU got a solo homer from Rob Watson in the eighth, and OU loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning, but OSU reliever Mike Patitucci retired three Sooners in a row to get out of the inning.

The total attendance for the three OU-OSU games was 32,797. Oklahoma will now head to Arlington, Texas, to take part in the 2002 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Tournament, to be held at The Ballpark in Arlington. OU has qualified for the conference's post-season tournament in each year of the league's existence.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Greusel Strikes Out 11 As Oklahoma Beats OSU, 8-6, Wins Series

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