That. Was. Crazy. After 10 innings the Pokes pulled out the W, and with it a conference series victory over the Sooners. In what has to be one of the sloppiest series played by either team all season, there were 11 errors and several busted plays. There were also some amazing plays, from Dane Phillips walk off Friday, to the a double play off a bunt, it was Bedlam. Follow me after the jump for a game by game recap.
The first game in the series was played in Tulsa, where up until two years ago the Cowboys had a 9 game winning streak. Fridays game set what would be a tone for the rest of the series, as the Cowboys found themselves in a 5-1 hole going into the bottom of the 5th. That's when this game started getting interesting. A massive rally was sparked when OU's Chris Ellison dropped what would have been the third out of the inning, which allowed Zach Johnson to reach second. Four RBI's from Jared Womack, Mark Ginther, Gabe Weidenaar, and Nico Rosthenhausler later and it's a tie game, but the Pokes were not finished. An error on OU's Caleb Bushyhead allowed two more Cowboys to score, and the inning ends with a 7-5 OSU advantage. One inning later OU tied the game with RBI's from Tyler Ogle (who was an absolute beast in this series for the Sooners) and Bushyhead. The pitchers finally took some control, and no Cowboy had a hit until the bottom of the 9th inning. Now, anybody who has read a recap, or saw the game, knows whats coming. But for those who didn't just know that Dane "Big Dick" Phillips was the first batter up in the 9th. And the last, as he turned the first pitch out to center field for the walk off home run and the 8-7 Cowboy victory. Pant's tents and nipple grabs around.
Saturday and Sunday's games moved to Oklahoma City. Saturdays game continued the trend set in Friday's, as the good guys fell behind 2-0 after the first and 6-2 after the 6th before they began a rally in the 6th. In the 6th Weidenaar and Rosthenhausler both drove in runs, and another Bushyhead throwing error made the score 6-5, but that's where the fun stopped on Saturday. OU scored another in 7th to make it 7-5, which was insurance they didn't need. In the bottom of the 9th OSU managed to give the Sooners a scare, as they had runners on the corners, but OU reliever Ryan Duke struck out Womach to end the game, and tie the series a 1 a piece.
Sunday's game kept up the excitement level of the first two, as it took 10 innings for the Cowboys to secure the victory. Like both games before it, the Cowboys found themselves in a late (huge) hole. Trailing 7-3 in the eight and facing Duke again, the Cowboys erupted for 7 runs on 6 hits and an error to take a 10-7 lead into the top of the 9th and seemingly lock up the game. But looks can be deceiving, and OSU closer Chris Marlow walked 4 batters, Ogle had another RBI, and the Sooners tied the game at 10 going into the top of the 10th, where OU had two men on and two outs. OSU reliever Andrew Heck then struck out OU pinch hitter Cody Reine to end the inning. In the bottom of the 10th, OSU recaptured Friday's heroics, with a Davis Duren RBI single to drive in the game and series winning run.
What can we take out of this weekend? For one, we have a solid three game hold on 3rd, and remain one game out of first, at 10-5 in the conference. It should also give this club confidence going into a huge series at A&M this next weekend, that could decide first place in the conference. With 20 games left this Cowboy team should be looking to host a regional, and if the chips fall right, make a run at Omaha. Secondly, it drops the Sooners from 4th to 5th, and gives us tie breakers over both OU and Texas.
In the end it was a great series for both team's offenses, while the pitchers got roughed up. Dane Phillips increased his conference leading batting average to .409, and Zach Johnson added to his team leading 35 RBI's. Even though I am the king of the OU haters, I feel I must mention OU's Tyler Ogle. He had a monster series, batting .714 with 9 RBI's and 2 home runs this weekend. That deserves a cookie. Now we turn towards an even bigger series in College Station this weekend, with first place on the line. I'll be back Thursday or Friday with a preview.
Go Pokes.