Oklahoma State University Athletics
Oklahoma State University
TCU
Cowboys Best Top-Ranked TCU In 12 Innings
March 21, 2015 | Cowboy Baseball
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Oklahoma State pushed its winning streak to seven games Friday night as the 19th-ranked Cowboys opened Big 12 Conference play with a 7-6 victory over No. 1 TCU in 12 innings at Lupton Stadium.
Dustin Williams' solo home run in the top of the 12th provided the winning run, and Koda Glover picked up his first-career win on the mound as OSU improved to 15-6. The Cowboys snapped TCU's eight-game winning streak as the Horned Frogs fell to 16-3 and 3-1 in league play.
"It was a tremendous ballgame between two very competitive teams," said OSU head coach Josh Holliday. "We saw right away why TCU has such an outstanding club - their pitching staff is very talented and deep and they're a very experienced offensive team that puts together competitive at bats. The real positive for us is that we matched them, and we hung in there with them pitch-for-pitch...
"Great effort by our kids, and it's a very good win on the road against the No. 1-ranked team in the country. I'm proud of the courage we showed and the way we bounced back after having that lead slip away a couple of times."
Friday's game saw multiple Cowboys come up big as six different players collected RBIs, and four OSU hurlers combined for 14 strikeouts and allowed just three earned runs.
TCU took the lead in its first at bat against OSU starter Jon Perrin. Following a leadoff walk to Cody Jones and back-to-back singles to load the bases, Evan Skoug brought home the Frogs' first run with an RBI groundout. The home team doubled its lead on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Crain before OSU got out of the inning with a pop out.
The Cowboys got one of the runs back in the second as Conor Costello led off the inning with a blast over the left field wall, his third home run of the season, to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The one-run game lasted until the sixth when OSU rallied for three runs to take its first lead of the contest.
Tim Arakawa led off the inning with a walk, and up next, Gage Green laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. TCU pitcher Mitchell Traver fielded the ball, but his throw to first sailed into the outfield and allowed Arakawa to race around the bases and plate the tying run.
The Cowboys would take their first lead later in the frame when Kevin Bradley delivered a clutch two-out RBI single, and Ryan Sluder followed with an infield single to bring home another run and put OSU up 4-2.
OSU pushed its lead to 5-2 in the seventh when Green deposited a Brian Trieglaff pitch over the wall in center field for his third round tripper of the season, but the Frogs would rally in the bottom of the inning.
Trailing by three, TCU led off the bottom of the seventh with Nolan Brown reaching on an error. Perrin struck out the next two Frogs, but Cody Jones smacked a two-run homer to pull the home team within one. Two batters later, a Derek Odell single brought home the tying run and ended Perrin's day on the mound.
Perrin racked up a season-high nine strikeouts, one shy of his career high, in 6 2/3 innings and just two of the five runs he allowed were earned.
Trey Cobb came out of the OSU bullpen in relief of Perrin and got out of the inning without any further damage, and the Cowboys would go back on top in their next at bat when Jacob Chappell delivered an RBI single up the middle to score Corey Hassel and give the Cowboys a 6-5 lead.
The bottom of the ninth inning provided more drama. With OSU clinging to the one-run lead, Jeremie Fagnan led off with a single against Cobb, and after a groundout, Cody Jones tied the game once again with an RBI triple just out of the reach of Hassel in center field.
With the winning run just 90 feet away and only one out, OSU called on Garrett Williams to relieve Cobb, and the sophomore southpaw came up huge, striking out pinch-hitter Elliott Barzilli and getting Odell to pop out to send the game to extra innings.
Neither team could manage a run over the next two innings, but all that changed when Dustin Williams stepped to the plate with two outs in the 12th and on a 1-1 pitch from TCU All-American closer Riley Ferrell, blasted a homer over the wall in right field.
"Friday night games usually come down to one big swing of the bat or one by pitch, and right there in the 12th inning Dustin (Williams) was able to put a big swing together for us to give us that one-run lead," Holliday said.
Glover would slam the door on TCU's final comeback attempt in the bottom of the inning. After giving up a one-out single to Skoug, the Cowboy right-hander struck out Crain and Keaton Jones to end the game.
Saturday's game is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
