Oklahoma State ended the No. 1 Longhorns' eight-game winning streak Sunday but not before Texas took the first two games to win its first road series against the Cowboys in Stillwater, Okla., since 2001.
Adrian Alaniz gave up nine hits, nine more than in his previous start, and three runs in seven innings pitched, but he did not receive enough run support and suffered his first loss of the season as Oklahoma State won 3-2.
Right fielder Corey Brown led the way for the Cowboys (29-16, 9-9) with a 3-for-4 performance that included a solo home run - his ninth in 2005 - in the first inning.
The Longhorns (35-7, 11-6 Big 12) tied the game in the third when Chance Wheeless sacrificed Nick Peoples home from third, but Oklahoma State responded in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to take the lead for good.
Texas managed only one hit over the next four innings before Taylor Teagarden led off the top of the eighth with his third home run of the season. The Longhorns only reached base one more time in the game when Nick Peoples drew a leadoff walk in the ninth and was stranded when Scott Richmond retired Drew Stubbs, Seth Johnston and Wheeless in order to earn his fifth save this year.
Stubbs and Johnston both extended their hitting streaks to nine and six games respectively, and Johnston came up with his third straight multi-hit game, going 2-for-4.
The Longhorn bats may have been quiet Sunday, but Saturday was a completely different story. Texas had eight runs on 12 hits heading into the ninth inning. However, Oklahoma State kept pace until the end, aided by a six-run fifth inning in which the Cowboys drew two walks and came up with six hits.
With the game tied in the top of the final frame, David Maroul hit the second pitch he saw over the left field wall to give the Longhorns the lead. After a Robby Hudson groundout and a Peoples walk, Stubbs and Johnston added back-to-back round-trippers to give Texas insurance runs in what ended up as a 12-8 victory. The consecutive home runs were the first for the Longhorns since June 9, 2003, when Teagarden and Curtis Thigpen hit two in a row against Florida State.
J. Brent Cox, who pitched two innings and extended his scoreless innings streak to 16 and one third, got credit for the win to improve to 6-1. Four Longhorns had multi-hit games, including Peoples, who went 3-for-4 with a career high three runs and two RBIs.
The fireworks started early Friday night as Texas held a 4-3 lead after three innings, but both starting pitchers settled down and threw complete games without surrendering any more runs.
Kyle McCulloch earned his seventh win of the season after giving up two earned runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out seven, while Oklahoma State's Thomas Cowley fell to 8-3 as the Longhorns came up with six hits and three walks off the Cowboys starter.
The two runs Texas scored in the top of the third inning were the difference. Johnston's leadoff homer tied the game at three, and Teagarden, after walking and advancing to third on a balk and a Carson Kainer single, scored the game-winning run on a Will Crouch sacrifice fly to center.
Be the first to comment on this article!