Sooners Even Up Series With Wildcats

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Oklahoma scored six times in both the second and third innings and pounded out 21 hits against K-State pitching as the Sooners evened up the series with the Wildcats after a 20-9 win Saturday before a season-high crowd of 2,032 at a windy Tointon Stadium.

With the loss, Kansas State fell back into a tie with Oklahoma for sixth place in the league standings at 6-8 while dropping to 25-14 overall on the season. Oklahoma improved to 26-15 overall.

After the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Byron Wiley double, starter Chase Bayuk struggled with his command as five walks and a bases-loaded double from Ryan Mottern led to a six-run Sooner second inning. Then, Oklahoma touched K-State pitchers for six more in the third as four hits, an error, a hit batsman and a walk upped the Sooner lead to 12-1.

Bayuk (3-4) lasted just 1.1 innings Saturday and surrendered six runs on two hits with five walks and two strikeouts on the day. Both pitching staffs struggled with command Saturday as they combined to walk 17 batters, 11 of which were given up by Sooner pitching.

Down 12-1 in the third, the Wildcats answered with five runs in the bottom half of the inning to get back into the game at 12-6. Brett Scott drove in the first run of the inning with a fielder’s choice, while Nate Tenbrink drove in run with an infield single. Eddie Vasquez added a sacrifice fly and Derek Bunker drove in a run with a groundout to close the gap to six runs.

Both teams then put up a single run in the fourth, as K-State’s run was provided by Byron Wiley’s team-leading fourth homer of the season, a solo shot to left.

Oklahoma then scored three more runs in the sixth, another in the eighth and three more in the ninth to make the score 20-7. The Wildcats plated two runs in the ninth on Daniel Dellasega’s sacrifice fly and Tyler Ruch’s infield single to round out the scoring.

Sooner starter Heath Taylor (7-1) shrugged off a slow start and earned the win after giving up seven runs on seven hits with seven walks in 6.0 innings of work.

Kansas State relievers Todd Vogel, A.J. Morris and Scott Bachman combined to throw the final 7.2 innings for the Cats. Vogel gave up 10 runs, five of which were earned, in 4.0 innings, while Morris surrendered one run on five hits in 2.2 innings. Bachman gave up three runs on five hits in his 1.0 inning Saturday.

Wiley and Tenbrink each had two hits for the Wildcats, while eight other players recorded a hit on the afternoon.

Kansas State and Oklahoma conclude the three-game conference series Sunday with a 1 p.m. rubber matchup at Tointon Stadium.

– k-statesports.com –