Oklahoma State University Athletics
More Ninth-Inning Magic Lifts Cowboys To Series Sweep
April 03, 2006 | Cowboy Baseball
Senior catcher Matt Clarkson's sacrifice fly to left field scored Jordy Mercer from third base with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth as OSU improved to 18-7 overall and 3-3 in Big 12 Conference play. The Cowboys won each of the three games against Texas A&M (18-13, 2-7) by scoring in the ninth inning.
“This was big after losing three to Texas,” said Mercer, a freshman from Taloga, Okla. who was 4-for-5 at the plate and also earned the win on the mound. “It was good to bounce back, and sweeping a Big 12 team is hard to do because every team in the Big 12 is tough.”
In a wild finale, OSU led for most of the contest but saw the Aggies score 10 runs in the final three innings to make things quite interesting.
TAMU jumped out to an early 1-0 advantage when Blake Stouffer led off the game with a home run against OSU starter Charles Benoit.
Benoit settled down and would get plenty of run support over the next several innings.
OSU took a 3-1 lead in the second, getting an RBI single from Mercer and a two-RBI single with two outs from Clarkson.
The Cowboys added to the lead in their next at bat, getting RBIs from Ty Wright and Adam Carr, and then coach Frank Anderson's squad tacked on three more runs in the fifth. John Schindler drove in a run with a single in the fifth, and Corey Brown also collected an RBI with a triple. Brown later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 8-1.
That appeared to be enough support for Benoit, who at one point retired 12-straight Aggies. But things took a turn in Texas A&M's favor in the seventh.
After Benoit retired the first batter in the seventh, he issued a walk to Jess Buenger and back-to-back singles to Jose Salazar and Kyle Colligan to load the bases. Benoit then hit Josh Stinson with a pitch to bring home a run, which also ended the OSU southpaw's day on the mound.
Things got worse for the Cowboys when pinch hitter Adam Hale blasted a grand slam off reliever Matt Gardner to make the score 8-6. Later in the inning, TAMU tied the score on RBI singles by Keith Stein and Vasquez.
OSU regained the lead over the next two innings, scoring a run in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI double by Carr and increasing its lead to 11-8 with RBI singles by Shelby Ford and Wright in the eighth.
Texas A&M would rally again, however. After OSU pitcher Trent Lare retired the first two batters in the ninth, he issued a walk to Ryan Hill and a single to Austin Boggs. Then after running the count to 2-0 on Vasquez, Lare was pulled from the mound and replaced by Mercer.
Mercer ran the count full on Vasquez, but on the 3-2 count, the Aggies' slugger tied the game with a three-run homer to right field.
Redemption for Mercer came in the bottom of the inning. After singling, Mercer raced from first to third on an error by TAMU pitcher Kyle Nicholson on a pickoff attempt to set up Clarkson's heroics.
Mercer picked up his second win on the mound against Texas A&M and improved to 4-0, while Clarkson led the Cowboys with three RBIs. OSU third baseman Tyler Mach was 3-for-5 on Sunday, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.
OSU returns to action Tuesday when they travel to Tulsa to take on Oral Roberts at Drillers Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
