Baseball:
| No. 11 Oklahoma State holds off CofC, 7-6 | ||||||||||
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GREENVILLE, N.C. – No. 11 Oklahoma State scored five runs in the first two innings and held off a late rally to defeat the College of Charleston, 7-6, in game one of the 2009 Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium on Friday.
The Cougars, now 3-2 on the year, return to action at 7:30 p.m. tonight when they take on St. John’s. Oklahoma State improved to 5-1 with the win. After mustering one hit through five innings on Oklahoma State starter Tyler Brandford, the Cougars exploded for five runs on six hits in the top of the sixth. The inning started when Clay McCord (Atlanta, Ga.) and Joey Bergman (Jacksonville, Fla.) reached base with singles, then Brandon Sizemore (Jacksonville, Fla.) cracked a ground rule double to right center, knocking in McCord to make the score 6-1. Joash Brodin (Olympia, Wash.) then hit a three-run home run, his third of the season, to right field to cut the Oklahoma State lead to 6-4. After Mike Hentz (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) doubled off the center field wall, Austin Morgan (Katy, Texas) knocked him in with a two-out, RBI single to right center to make the score 6-5. Oklahoma State added a single run in the bottom half of the sixth, a run that proved to be decisive. The Cougars made more one run in the top half of the ninth, after Morgan led off the inning with a double and was knocked in by a Bergman single to center. OSU closer Randy McCurry, however, got out of the jam when he forced Sizemore into a game ending double play to earn his second save of the season. For the game, Hentz, Morgan and Bergman each went 2-4. For Oklahoma State, Tyrone Hambly went 2-4 and hit a three-run home run in the first inning. On the mound, Brandford (1-0) took the win, while Jesse Simpson (Baton Rouge, La, 1-1) took the loss. |
