Free Bases Spoil Bedlam Opener

No. 11 Oklahoma State

No. 25 Oklahoma

Highlights

Box Score

Notes

Line Score
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OSU	0	2	0	0	3	3	1	0	0	9	8	0
OU	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	6	9	2

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Perrin (5-4)	7.0	6	5	5	5	5
L - Elliott (4-4)	4.2	2	4	4	6	6
S - N/A	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OSU - Sluder	4	1	2	2	0	1
OU - Aikin	4	1	3	0	1	0
OU - Neuse	4	0	2	3	0	0

TULSA, Okla. – The No. 25 University of Oklahoma baseball team plated three in the first, but No. 11 Oklahoma State University rallied behind eight walks to win 9-6 in front of 9,087 at ONEOK Field on Friday night. The Sooners, who have lost four in a row, dropped to 29-20 overall and 10-6 in the Big 12, while the Cowboys moved to 30-14 and 13-6.

Oklahoma singled four times in the first beginning with a chopper in the hole at short by junior center fielder and lead-off hitter Craig Aikin (Coppell, Texas). He advanced on a sacrifice-bunt and scored on a base hit to right by junior first baseman Kolbey Carpenter (Waco, Texas). Sophomore shortstop Sheldon Neuse (Fort Worth, Texas) got in on the action with a base hit chopped over short to score Carpenter and another came in on a fielder's choice RBI from redshirt-senior designated hitter Robert Tasin (Klein, Texas).

OU sophomore right-hander Jake Elliott (Coppell, Texas) was working out of trouble in nearly every inning early in the game. He stranded a lead-off single to start the game, but back-to-back walks to start the second would both come around to score and narrow the Sooners' lead to a run at 3-2.

Oklahoma State rallied again, but this time with two-out, back-to-back walks issued by Elliott. After a pitching change, right fielder Conor Costello, who made two great catches on the night, lined a base hit to center that plated the game-tying run and was followed by the third OSU walk of the inning to load the bases. An infield single to short off the bat of center fielder Ryan Sluder and an errant throw plated two runs and gave the Cowboys their first lead of the night.

Elliott (4-4) took the loss in 4.2 innings of work as he allowed four runs, all earned, on just two hits, but six walks to go with six strikeouts. Right-hander Jon Perrin (5-4) lasted seven innings before being pulled after back-to-back walks to start the eighth. For the game, he surrendered five runs on six hits and five walks, while striking out five.

The Cowboys tacked on three more runs in the sixth and added a lead-off home run to left by Sluder in the seventh.

Trailing 9-6, the Sooners staged a brief rally late beginning with back-to-back walks to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Neuse brought in both with a one-out double into the left field corner. In the ninth, freshman second baseman Kyle Mendenhall (Carlsbad, Calif.) doubled with one away followed by an Aikin single. A walk loaded the bases and Carpenter beat out a potential double play ball to drive home Mendenhall and cut the deficit to three. The game ended on a sharp grounder up the middle on a smooth play by OSU second baseman Tim Arakawa to get the force out at second.

Oklahoma outhit Oklahoma State, 9-8, for the game. Sluder was the only Cowboy to record a multi-hit game as he went 2-for-4. The Sooners were led by Aikin at 3-for-4 and Neuse at 2-for-4.

The series shifts to Oklahoma City on Saturday for game two at 7:00 pm at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark. Sophomore right-hander Alec Hansen (Loveland, Colo.) throws for Oklahoma.