Sooners Upset No. 25 Texas in 12 Innings

Oklahoma

No. 25 Texas

Line Score
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	R	H	E
OU	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	12	1
UT	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7	1

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Garza (1-1)	1.1	0	0	0	0	3
L - Mayes (1-2)	2.2	2	1	1	1	1
S - Evans (3)	1.0	0	0	0	1	1

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Aikin	5	2	2	0	0	0
OU - Alspaugh	5	0	2	1	1	0
OU - Hermelyn	6	0	3	0	0	0

Player of the Game
Jake Elliott // So. // RHP Elliott battled, with the help of his defense, to keep the Texas limited to a run in the first and one in the fourth.

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Oklahoma baseball team put together its fourth and final two-out rally of the night in the top of the 12^th resulting with the go-ahead run that held up in a 3-2 upset of No. 25 Texas in front of 6,807 at Disch-Falk Field on Friday night. Junior center fielder Craig Aikin (Coppell, Texas) lined a two-out double to right-center to start the Sooners rally and came across with the eventual, game-winning run on a base hit through the right-side from sophomore Austin O'Brien (Owasso, Okla.), who entered as a pinch-hitter in the 10^th.

Junior left-hander Jacob Evans (Broken Arrow, Okla.) entered to pitch the bottom of the 12^th and worked around a one-out walk to set down the Longhorns (18-16, 5-5) to record his third save of the season. Junior right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. (New Braunfels, Texas) picked up the win in 1.1 innings of relief. He went to 1-1 on the year as he retired all four batters faced, including strikeouts of the first three.

“We used a lot of people, played in pressure situations and used some key guys off the bench,” head coach Pete Hughes said of his team's win. “Austin O'Brien came through and got a big hit for us. It spoke to the depth of our program and I just love the way our guys play in tight games and in extra innings.”

The Sooners improved to 23-13 overall and moved into sole possession of second place in the Big 12 at 7-3.

“It's resiliency,” Hughes commented about the toughness of his team. “It's resiliency when we talk about how we got beat on Tuesday and everything that came after that. It's got to take a tough, confident group to come back after that loss at Oklahoma State and I knew we had that group. Resiliency is the word; no doubt. If you don't have it, I don't think you have a high-character team and I think we're getting there.”

Texas went out in front with a run in the bottom of the first. After sophomore right-hander Jake Elliott (Coppell, Texas) loaded the bases on a single and two hit batsmen with no outs, a groundball double play brought in the run and a called strike three limited the damage.

“It was a Texas kid starting in this game and it was the adrenaline,” Hughes stated about his starting pitcher. “When you're a pitcher, adrenaline isn't a good thing. You lose the feel of your fastball and I thought that's what happened with Jake. Once the adrenaline got out of his system, he settled in, started throwing a lot of strikes and we extended him a little bit. He got there deep enough to hand it over to [the bullpen] and those guys were awesome.”

Oklahoma responded immediately in the top of the second. Aikin led off the inning with a single through the right-side for the 200^th of his career. From second, he scored on an error at third to come across as the tying run.

The Longhorns went ahead again in the fourth with an unearned run of their own. A two-out rally started with a single up the middle by designated hitter Michael Cantu, his second of the night. A base hit up the middle by first baseman Kacy Clemens put two aboard and an errant throw from third on the next batter brought in Cantu with the go-ahead run.

The Sooners would rally again, coming with two outs, in the top of the seventh. Right-hander Parker French failed to record a strikeout through six innings, but punched out the first two he faced in the seventh. Senior third baseman Joshua Ake (Readington, N.J.) lined a base hit to right to keep the inning alive. French then struck out junior second baseman Kolbey Carpenter (Waco, Texas), but a wild pitch went to the backstop and OU had two on with two out. Redshirt-senior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh (Broken Arrow, Okla.) followed with his second hit of the night; a RBI-single to center that scored Ake from second ahead of the throw to tie the game, 2-2.

Elliott left in a tie ballgame after seven-strong innings with 108 pitches to his credit. He allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits and two walks with three strikeouts. French went 7.2 innings for UT, while scattering nine hits and a walk; yielding two runs, one earned, to go with four strikeouts.

Junior RHP Keaton Hernandez (Palm Springs, Calif.) was the first man out of the bullpen for OU. He went 2.2 innings and surrendered just two hits and a walk, while striking out one.

For the game, Oklahoma outhit Texas, 12-7. Three Sooners recorded multi-hit games, including junior first baseman Anthony Hermelyn (McKinney, Texas) at 3-for-6. Aikin and Alspaugh each finished 2-for-5.

Game two between Oklahoma and Texas is set for 3:30 pm Saturday afternoon. Sophomore right-hander Alec Hansen (Loveland, Colo.) is scheduled to pitch for the Sooners.

Sooners Upset No. 25 Texas in 12 Innings

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Players Mentioned

Craig Aikin

Joshua Ake

Taylor Alspaugh

Kolbey Carpenter

Jake Elliott

Jake Elliott

Jacob Evans

Ralph Garza Jr.

Alec Hansen

Anthony Hermelyn

Keaton Hernandez

Mac James

Austin O'Brien

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University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Upset No. 25 Texas in 12 Innings

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Craig Aikin

Joshua Ake

Taylor Alspaugh

Kolbey Carpenter

Jake Elliott

Jake Elliott

Jacob Evans

Ralph Garza Jr.

Alec Hansen

Anthony Hermelyn

Keaton Hernandez

Mac James

Austin O'Brien

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