May 2, 2003
Box Score
STILLWATER, Okla. -
Oklahoma State scored five unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings to pull the Cowboys to a 7-4 win over No. 24 Missouri in a Big 12 Conference series opener Friday night.
It was the 14th straight win for OSU (29-17, 11-8 Big 12) over the Tigers in Stillwater, dating back to a 1993 Mizzou win. In addition, the Cowboys avoided their first three-game losing streak in the 22-year history of Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. Ironically, Missouri took three out of four games in the stadium's first-ever series in 1981.
Cowboy ace righty Scott Baker (9-4) threw a complete game, scattering eight hits over his nine innings to post his second straight win and snap a four-game OSU losing streak.
Mizzou (30-16, 12-9) scored three unearned runs in the second off Baker. Making his homecoming, junior 1B Cody Ehlers (Stillwater, Okla.) led off the inning with a flared single to left. Junior C Brad Flanders (Smithville, Mo.) took advantage of an extended plate appearance by singling to center after OSU catcher Jason Jaramillo dropped a foul ball earlier in the at-bat. Junior SS Ian Kinsler (Tucson, Ariz.) then doubled Ehlers home with a one-out shot down the left-field line, Flanders came home on an infield error on a grounder by junior 2B Jeremy Hernandez (Aptos, Calif.), and Kinsler scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman DH James Boone (Clinton, Okla).
The Cowboys got one back in the bottom half of the inning when John Urick drew a leadoff walk against Tiger junior RHP Justin James (Yukon, Okla.). After James (6-6) retired the next two batters, Scott Kirby hit an RBI double to left-center.
OSU pulled within a run in the third with another leadoff walk, this time to No. 9 hitter Chris Gutierrez, who took second on a throwing error by James on Lyndsey Simmons' sacrifice bunt attempt. José Virgil's double to left-center. James got out of the jam by killing a squeeze attempt by Josh Fields and getting Simmons at the plate, and then inducing a strikeout and flyout to end the inning.
Mizzou got that run back in the fifth when Kinsler led off with his second double of the game, and then with two out, senior CF
Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.) laced an RBI single down the left-field line.
The Cowboys took their first lead of the game in the sixth with three unearned runs. With two out and Kirby on second, Hernandez let a grounder under his glove at second to score the runner. Gutierrez followed with an RBI double of his own, and Simmons hit an RBI single to plate Gutierrez.
A double and triple to lead off the seventh marked the end of James' evening. He gave up 10 hits and seven runs (four earned) in his seven-plus innings as OSU's lead grew to 7-4.
"The game really came down to not keeping two balls in front of us," said Head Coach Tim Jamieson of errors by Hernandez and junior RF Kyle Johnson (Omaha, Neb.) in the sixth. "It doesn't just get us out of the inning, it changes the momentum and maybe gets into their bullpen. It completely changes the complexion of the game."
The two teams return Saturday for the middle game of the series at 7 p.m. Sophomore right Garrett Broshuis (Advance, Mo.) stakes his 5-2 record against the Cowboy right-hander Joe Weaver (3-4).
