Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Win Bizarre Game Over Sooners, 9-6
June 21, 1999 | Cowboy Baseball
May 1, 1999
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Oklahoma State rallied from a 5-0 deficit to defeat Oklahoma 9-6 Saturday afternoon in front of 11,693 fans at the Bricktown Ballpark.
Both teams combined to use 11 pitchers to go along with two controversial calls which led to two Oklahoma State ejections.
The Sooners scored three runs in the first off of Casey Bookout's 13th homer of the season and added two more runs in the second staking OU ace Jared Hoerman to a 5-0 lead.
Hoerman allowed only two hits in five innings of shutout ball before the Cowboys rallied in the sixth. Billy Gasparino opened the inning with a single to center then advanced to third when Josh Holliday doubled down the right field line. Lamont Matthews walked to load the bases before Jay McCullough blasted a grand slam homer to left field to cut the Sooner advantage to 5-4.
Valentino Pascucci came in relief of Hoerman after Chris Becerra singled to right field and proceeded to retire the Cowboys in order to end the sixth.
OSU took the lead in the seventh with four unearned runs off of two errors, three walks, a fielder's choice and one hit batsman. The inning had the first controversial call of the game as Josh Holliday had a called home run to left by the third base umpire overruled foul by the first base official. Student assistant Justin Pirtle was thrown out of the game for arguing with the umpires.
Oklahoma State extended its lead to 9-5 in the eighth when Billy Gasparino knocked a double to left field scoring Kevin Lucas from second base. Gasparino was subsequently ejected for intentionally colliding with OU second baseman Hunter Covitz.
The Sooners rallied for a run in the ninth off a one-out RBI double by Tommy Whiteman and cut the OSU lead to 9-6. Reliever Rusty Rushing retired the next two batters to ensure the Cowboy victory.
Freshman Ryan Herrmann evened his record at 2-2 after pitching two and two-third innings of scoreless relief. Valentino Pascucci was charged with the loss and dropped to 1-2 on the season.
Oklahoma State improved to 33-13 with the win and 12-8 in Big 12 play while Oklahoma dropped to 24-24 and 8-15 in conference action.
The teams will meet in the rubber game of the three game series tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. Junior right hander Thom Dreier is scheduled to pitch for the Pokes while freshman left hander Michael Bradbury will start for the Sooners.
Oklahoma 320 000 001 - 6 10 3 Oklahoma State 000 004 41X - 9 9 1Hoerman, Pascucci (6), Reyes (7), Mercado (7), Sturdivant (8) and Van Horn, Witcher.
Krismer, Rollandini (2), Leu (5), Herrmann (6), Hunt (8), Rushing (9) and Budde, Haggard.
W- Herrmann 2-2 L- Pascucci 1-2 Sv- None
HRs- Bookout (13), McCullough (7)
