Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboys Fall to Bruins in NCAA Regional Opener
April 09, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
Friday in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Baseball Regional at Wichita State's Eck Stadium, Cowboy bats remained silent once again, scoring only one earned run in 6 2/3 innings off Karp in a 12-6 loss to UCLA to fall into the this morning's elimination game where they will meet at 11 a.m.
Karp, who was selected in the eighth round by Atlanta after his senior year at Bothell High School in Washington, worked 6 2/3, giving up only three hits, striking out eight and never allowing OSU to get the bats off their shoulders. The Cowboys only managed to put two runners on base in the first and seventh innings while Karp was on the mound.
"That's why that guy was drafted and is a million dollar pitcher, OSU coach Tom Holliday said. "We didn't swing the bats well again and we had a couple of chances to get to him early but didn't. He got into that groove in the middle innings and we could never get to him."
"My fastball was working really well after about the second inning, Karp said. "Then my curve ball started to come around. In the first I didn't pitch very well and that got my pitch count up higher than I would have liked early in the game."
The Bruin offense picked up right where they left off in Stillwater two seasons ago, taking advantage of three OSU errors and pounding OSU pitching for 18 hits. The damage could have been much worse as UCLA stranded 12 runners on base as well.
For what seems like an eternity, OSU ace Matt Smith once again pitched well but didn't get the offensive support, leaving after only 5 1/3, giving up five earned runs in the process.
"They got a couple of hits and we got some bad breaks," Smith said after dropping to 9-5 for the season. "I felt really good early in the game and didn't expect to come out when I did. You have to tip your hat to them because they just got the hits when they needed to.
"I expected the score to be a little different than it was (Friday)." OSU didn't push a run across until the seventh on Billy Gasparino's 23rd homer of the season, but Karp came back after walking Lamont Matthews to retire three straight and keep the damage to a minimum.
OSU (40-18) made a small rumble in the bottom of the ninth in one last gasp to avoid the first round loss.
A two-run bomb by Kevin Lucas, followed up by another two-run blast by Lamont Matthews off little used reliever Brian Strelitz, making it 12-6, but the hole was just too deep.
Entering the ninth, UCLA held a 7-2 lead but erupted for five runs fueled by Garrett Atkins' three-run homer after a two-RBI double by Bill Scott. Scott and Atkins combined to go 7-for-11 with seven RBI in the game.
"Smith has to be one of the top three pitchers we have seen all season," Scott said of the OSU lefty. "The first time through the order he was tough to pick up. He hid the baseball very well. I think our ballclub adjusts pretty well and that is what we had to do. We had to shorten our swings down and try and put the ball in play."
"That was a ballgame until the ninth inning," Holliday said.
The Bruins took a 2-0 lead after three innings, using a lead-off double >from Atkins and two out RBI-single from Nick Lyon. A throwing error on OSU third baseman Josh Holliday brought home Lyon, who had stolen second base.
In the fifth, UCLA extended the lead to 4-0 behind a lead-off home run by Chase Utley, two singles and two walks. Smith's afternoon ended in the sixth after allowing a leadoff bloop double by Charles Merrichs and single off the bat of Utley to make it 5-0. Freshman Ryan Herrmann got the call after Smith's eight strikeout 115 pitch outing.
Herrmann was rudely greeted by Bill Scott's 26th home run of the season tying a Pac 10 record of hitting a homer in seven straight games. Scott's blast made it 7-0 and memories of two years ago in Stillwater began to creep into the minds of fans and players alike.
Matthews and Lucas led OSU offensively, collecting four of the seven team hits.
