Oklahoma State University Athletics
Sooners Take Two of Three in Bedlam Baseball
April 08, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
Oklahoma State (36-15, 14-10 Big 12) lost two of three games this past weekend to Bedlam rival Oklahoma, with both losses coming by a single run.
In Fridays series opener, played in Tulsa, the Cowboys led 3-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but OU scored five times in the final two innings for a 5-4 victory. The winning run in the bottom of the ninth scored when the Cowboys failed to catch a two-out infield pop fly.
The Cowboys bounced back, though, for a 10-3 blowout on Saturday's game in Oklahoma City's new Bricktown Ballpark. Billy Gasparino, Marc Fournier and Jay McCullough homered for OSU, and Dale Pearson pitched 4.2 innings of stellar relief, allowing just one hit, striking out six and allowing no runs to earn the victory.
Sunday's game saw the Sooners bust out for their first early lead of the series -- in fact, it was OU's first lead at any time in the series apart from Friday's final play. OU scored five runs in the first inning, and although Danny Prata provided excellent relief -- he gave up no runs and just five hits in seven innings -- the Cowboys couldnt quite chip all the way back into OU's lead. The Cowboys lost, 5-4.
OSU cut the OU lead to 5-4 in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Gasparino and an RBI single by Tony Lucca. Then, after an intentional walk to Josh Holliday, Fournier sent a surge through the sellout crowd with a drive to the warning track. Just one or two more feet and the ball would have either hit off the wall or gone over it, but instead, Sooner left fielder Bobby Walters made the catch to end OSU's best chance.
The Cowboys take this week off for finals before traveling to Columbia, Mo., for a three-game set Saturday and Sunday.
