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Baylor
Oklahoma State Rallies To Defeat Baylor 11-10
April 05, 2002 | Cowboy Baseball
April 5, 2002
WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma State rallied from a 7-0 first inning deficit and withstood a late Baylor rally to defeat the Bears, 11-10, in Big 12 baseball action Friday night at the Baylor Ballpark.
With the game tied at 7-7 with one out in the seventh, third baseman Paul Powell reached on an error by Baylor shortstop Trey Webb. Rob Watson followed with his second double of the day and Powell scored on an error by leftfielder Tim Hartshorn who misplayed Watson's hit. Josh Fields then pinch hit for starter Ali Modami and roped a triple to right-center scoring Watson and extending the Cowboy lead to 9-7. After catcher Matt Oakes walked, centerfielder Jeff Salazar hit a two-run double to push the advantage to 11-7.
The Bears rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to cut the deficit to 11-10. Reliever Justin Meccage walked the first two batters in the inning before giving way to righthander John Forrest. BU catcher Paul Richmond hit a two-run double to right-center and scored on a single by centerfielder Chris Durbin to account for the Baylor scoring.
Forrest retired the first two batters in the ninth before allowing second baseman Paul Witt to reach on a fielding error. Southpaw Mike Patitucci came in and gave up a base hit before striking out Durbin to end the game and pick up his first save of the year.
OSU improved to 22-7 overall and 7-3 in the Big 12 while Baylor fell to 21-12 and 9-7 in league play.
Paul Powell finished the night 2-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs and three runs scored.
"We are staying in the game and we aren't giving up, we came in after the first and said it is not the end of the game and we still have eight innings left to play," said Powell. "It's big to get the first game of the series, but it is just one game, we still have two games left to go."
Baylor batted around on Cowboy starter Nick McCurdy in the first, scoring seven runs on seven hits in the inning. The Bears took advantage of a throwing error by shortstop Rob Watson, that could have resulted in a double-play, to wrap out three consecutive RBI singles before the Cowboys recorded the first out of the inning.
Oklahoma State chipped away at the lead with two runs in the second coming off a Rob Watson double to left-center. The Pokes added another run in the third to cut the lead to 7-3.
OSU tied the game in the fifth when Paul Powell hit a grand-slam homer to left field, his ninth homer on the year and second blast with the bases loaded in 2002. Rightfielder Daylon Monette, designated hitter Zach Cates and leftfielder Jose Virgil opened the inning with singles before Powell's game-tying blast.
Justin Meccage picked up the win in relief to move to 2-0 on the year while reliever Trey Taylor took the loss to drop to 0-3.
The teams will be back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. in a Fox Sports Southwest telecast. Junior righthander Chris Reilly is slated to take the mound for the Cowboys while southpaw Jared Theodorakos will take the hill for the Bears.
