May 4, 2003
STILLWATER, Okla. - A 15-run sixth inning, fueled by five home runs, propelled the Oklahoma State baseball team to a 17-7, seven-inning win over Missouri in the rubber game of the teams' Big 12 series at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
With the win, the Cowboys (30-18, 12-9 Big 12) passed the Tigers in the Big 12 standings, moving Mizzou (31-17, 13-10) into sixth place.
Winds that consistently blew out to center at 20 mph and gusted to 30 mph finally took its toll on junior RHP Derek Roper (Elk City, Okla.), who had pitched an excellent first five innings in staking the Tigers to a 5-2 lead. In the sixth, he gave up homers to Mario Matulich and Kenny Hansley to tie the game at 5. Junior RHP Mark Alexander (Independence, Mo.) came in to allow back-to-back triples to Chris Gutierrez and Lyndsey Simmons. Alexander balked Simmons home before Jos? Virgil homered to right field.
Alexander (1-1) was removed for freshman RHP Stephan Holst (Independence, Mo.) after hitting Josh Fields on a 2-0 pitch. Both benches were warned following the hit batsman, and after Holst gave up a homer to Urick on his first pitch and a groundout to second by Jason Jaramillo and a single by Matulich, Holst was ejected when Kirby was hit. When all was said and done, the Cowboys had 12 hits - including five homers - to get their 15 runs by sending 18 batters to the plate in the inning. Winning pitcher Daniel Rew (2-0) was ejected in the top of the seventh for throwing behind senior CF Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.).
Mizzou scored first in each of the three games of the series, including in the first inning of Sunday's game when junior SS Ian Kinsler (Tucson, Ariz.) walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout by junior LF Ryan Rallo (Chesterfield, Mo.), and came home on an RBI single through the right side by junior 1B Cody Ehlers (Stillwater, Okla.).
Kinsler added a run in the third with a 420-foot solo homer to dead center to stake the Tigers to a 2-0 lead, and added a two-run shot in the seventh for his fifth of the season and third of the week. It capped an impressive series in Stillwater, as Kinsler went 10-for-12 (.833) with four doubles, a triple, two homers, eight RBI and eight runs scored. He also was errorless in 13 total chances.
Mizzou got another run in the fourth when Flanders got on with a leadoff walk, moved to second on a wild pitch by Cowboy starter Spencer Grogan and came home on a bloop single to right by junior RF Kyle Johnson (Omaha, Neb.).
In the fifth, Tingler reached on an error by Hansley, and moved to third on a Kinsler double to center. Rallo then singled Tingler home, and Kinsler followed when OSU center fielder Jos? Virgil misplayed the ball.
After walking a pair of Cowboys in the first, Roper faced the minimum nine batters over the next three innings. Following OSU's first hit of the game by Scott Kirby in the second, Roper picked him off and then induced a flyout to left by Hansley. He then retired the side in order in the third and fourth.
Roper got himself into a bit of a jam to start the fifth, allowing a leadoff double to Mario Matulich before Kirby hit Roper's next pitch over the left-center field fence for his 12th homer of the season. It pulled the Cowboys within 5-2. He then filled the bases with Cowboys on a single just out of the reach of freshman 3B Zane Taylor (Kirksville, Mo.) and a pair of walks sandwiched around a Virgil lineout. With two out, though, Roper struck out John Urick - who had hit two homers the night before - swinging to get out of the inning.
"We did a good job in the first 5-1/2 innings, but their bats woke up in the sixth," Head Coach Tim Jamieson said. "The key to this game was one inning, and we didn't handle it well. It was built on the momentum they created."
The Tigers play their final non-conference game of the season on Tuesday with a return trip to T.R. Hughes Ballpark against Illinois. Mizzou's second and final wood-bat game of the season will begin at 6:30 p.m. in O'Fallon, Mo.