Completed Event: Baseball versus (3) Georgia on June 15, 2026 , Win , 4, to, 3
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Baseball
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University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Bats Propel Sooners to 7-5 Victory, Series Win Against ASU :: Mix notches win after striking out six, Fransz belts sixth home run of season
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Austin Mix pitched six innings and struck out six Sun Devils en route to the win in OU's 7-5 victory over Arizona State on Sunday. |
March 17, 2002
MESA, Ariz. - The University Oklahoma baseball team (15-5, 3-0 Big 12) cranked out 13 hits and topped No. 11 Arizona State 7-5 on Sunday evening at Hohokam Park to win the crucial series two games to one. Oklahoma has now won seven of its last eight contests and should be ranked in the national polls, released early next week.
Austin Mix (4-1) got the win for Oklahoma after having arguably his best performance of the season. He pitched six innings, allowed just two runs on five hits and struck out six Sun Devils. His four wins in eight appearances this season surpass his win total of three for all of last season. Freshman lefty David Purcey picked up his fourth save of the season by striking out the side and pitching a perfect ninth inning.
Oklahoma got off to a quick start, scoring two runs in the first inning. After OU leadoff man Matt Arkison walked, Eddie Cornejo doubled to right field to bring him home and then Matt Bose singled to score Cornejo. Arizona State manufactured a run in the third to draw within one, but the Sooners answered in the fourth when Jason Fransz hit an RBI double to make it 3-1.
In the fourth frame, ASU freshman Jeff Larish hit a ball to the wall in left center field but Arkison threw a strike from the warning track to shortstop Denver Kitch, who then relayed it onto catcher Ryan Richardson and Larish was tagged out to save a run. ASU did, however, score a run in the sixth to make the score 3-2.
Kitch walked and stole second base in the eighth inning -- his Big 12-high 15th steal of the year -- and Arkison then doubled down the left field line to score Kitch. Cornejo proceeded to hit his second double of the day to score Arkison and then Jason Fransz belted a Mark Sopko pitch over the left field wall for his sixth homer of the season. OU reliever Jarod McAuliff allowed three Sun Devil runs in the eighth, but Purcey retired the Sun Devils in order in the ninth for hold onto the 7-5 win.
Fransz was 3-for-5 with with three RBI and a run scored, while Cornejo was 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBI and a run scored. Arkison and Bose each added two hits and a run batted in.
Game attendance at Hohokam Park, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs, was 2,086. Oklahoma's next action will be on Wed., March 20, as the Sooners travel south to take on the Texas-Arlington Mavericks (9-12, 2-1 Southland Conference) in a 2 p.m. tilt. The Sooners will then take on Texas A&M (17-9, 5-4 Big 12) in a three-game series in College Station from March 22-24.
