Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
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Kansas
No. 23 Oklahoma State Falls Short of Kansas 10-8
March 31, 2003 | Cowboy Baseball
March 31, 2003
LAWRENCE, Kan.- Oklahoma State gave up four runs in the fifth inning to break a 4-4 tie and eventually fell to Kansas 10-8 in front of 357 fans at Hoglund Ballpark.
Oklahoma State scored four in the ninth and cut the lead to two when Mario Matulich smashed his fourth homerun of the season, but that was all they could muster after Kansas brought in closer Brandon Johnson.
OSU fell to 17-9 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 while KU improved to 22-11 and picked up their first conference win to move to 1-5. Kansas avoided getting swept with the victory.
Ryan Knippschild pitched into the ninth for KU and ran his record to 6-2. Jimmy Rhodes suffered the loss for the Cowboys and fell to 1-1.
Oklahoma State got on the board in their first time at bat. The Cowboys loaded the bases with back-to-back singles by Josh Fields and John Urick after Jose Virgil walked. Jason Jaramillo drove in Virgil with a fly ball to deep center. Fields plated the second run on Matulich's infield single.
Kansas cut the lead in half with a Ryan Baty homerun over the left field fence in the bottom of the inning off of starter Joe Weaver.
The Cowboys responded in the top of the second. Kenny Hansley hit a one-out double down the left field line. Fields plated Hansley with an RBI single to left to push the lead back up to two.
Kansas threatened in the bottom of the second with runners on the corners and one out. Weaver got Matt Baty to hit a ground ball to shortstop Chris Gutierrez to start the double play and get out of the jam.
Kansas cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the third. Weaver walked the first two hitters of the inning and they advanced to scoring position after Weaver balked. Kevin Wheeler plated Lance Hayes with a sacrifice fly to deep right to make it 3-2.
OSU scored again in the fourth. Gutierrez walked with one out and was followed by consecutive singles by Virgil and Fields to load the bases. John Urick scored Gutierrez with a sacrifice fly to center.
KU scored two in the fourth to answer the Cowboys. In the bottom of the fourth, Travis Metcalf hit a one out double to left and was followed by a Sean Flynn single and a Matt Baty double down the left field line that scored Metcalf. Baty's doubled chased Weaver from the game. Rhodes came in and struck out Lance Hayes, but Gutierrez committed an error to allow Flynn to score from third on the next batter to tie the game.
The Jayhawks scored four in the fifth to take the lead. Wheeler hit a solo shot over the 18-foot center field fence to lead off the inning. Wheeler's homerun gave the Jayhawks their first lead of the series. Casey Spanish walked and stole second to move into scoring position. Metcalf scored Spanish on a single up the middle. Shane Hawk replaced Rhodes and gave up RBI single to Matt Baty. Flynn scored on a wild pitch to make the score 8-4. The Cowboys got out of the inning when Hayes hit a fly ball to center that Virgil caught in front of the wall. Baty tried to score from second and Gutierrez threw him out at the plate.
The Jayhawks added an unearned run in the sixth. Shane Hawk fielded a comebacker to the mound and threw it away trying to make the play at second. Ritchie Price scored from second on the play to make it a five run deficit.
The Jayhawks added to the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Price singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a fielder's choice. Price stole third and took home when the pitch got away from Jaramillo.
The Cowboys made a comeback in the ninth by scoring four runs off of Knippschild. Fields walked with one out and moved to second on Urick's single. Jaramillo lined a single in front of Hayes in center. The ball got away from him and went to the fence allowing Fields to score. Matulich cleared the bases with his fourth homerun of the season to make it a 10-8 game. Kansas brought in Johnson to finish the game nd pick up his third save of the season.
