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Updated 4:13 AM on Monday, April 23, 2007

Cowboys take series win

OSU gets win Sunday in wild fashion

By RICHARD CROOME
Eagle Staff Writer

Ty Wright and Jordy Mercer made sure Oklahoma State's bus ride home Sunday night was much more enjoyable than the one they had getting down to College Station.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Gabriel Chmielewski Texas A&M's Gary Campfield attempts to tag out Oklahoma State's Kendall Horner after a wild pitch during the fourth inning of the Aggies' loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon at Olsen Field.

The Cowboys bore a 15-hour trip on Thursday when their bus broke down. On Sunday at Olsen Field, they endured four hours of anything-goes baseball before escaping with a 12-11 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies.

Winning the rubber game of the series gave second-place OSU (31-10) a 10-5 mark in the Big 12, while A&M dropped to 32-10 and 9-8.

"I sat down for the first time just a few seconds ago and took a deep breath because that game took it out of you," said Wright, who hit the game-winning two-run homer in the ninth inning. "It's going to make for a nice bus ride home and hopefully we won't get stuck again or have anything like that happen."

Both teams must have felt like the wheels had fallen off for most of Sunday's game, with home runs turning from singles to outs, pitchers being taken out without throwing a strike, first base coaches being thrown out of the game and head coaches wearing out the grass with so many trips to the mound.

"It wasn't pretty, and it was basically a race to end of the game to get to [Kyle] Thebeau or Mercer in the game for both teams to get someone in that could shut things down," OSU coach Frank Anderson said. "I could second guess in spots where I could have brought him [Mercer] in earlier but it's tough to play shortstop all weekend long in 80-degree weather and then come in and do what he did from the fourth or fifth inning."

As it was, Mercer was the Cowboys' eighth pitcher and he went four innings for his first victory of the season. He came in in the sixth after Luke Anders' eighth homer of the season gave the Aggies an 11-8 lead.

Mercer walked two, gave up one hit and no runs. He also set the top of the Aggie lineup down in order in the seventh and ninth innings.

"You just knew as a team in the fifth, sixth, seventh inning that the team that was going to win was the team that had the pitching staff that was going to step up, and ours closed them out in the bottom three innings," Wright said.

The Aggies overcame a three-run deficit - all of which were unearned - with a two-run double by Blake Stouffer and an RBI single by Anders, that chased OSU starter Josh Fritsche after just five batters.

A Ryan Flavell homer and back-to-back doubles by Wright and Corey Brown in the second put OSU back up 5-3, but the Aggies appeared to have tied it again on Brandon Hicks' homer.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Gabriel Chmielewski A&M's Ben Feltner steals second base as Oklahoma State's Jordy Mercer bobbles the throw.

Wright backed up to the left-field fence on Hicks' towering fly ball and reached over in an attempt to make the catch. When he came back down on the warning track no one was sure if he had the ball.

Meanwhile, pinch runner Brian Ruggiano went back to first base to tag up. In doing so, Hicks passed him. Ruggiano and Hicks then trotted home when everyone realized Wright did not have the ball and that it had cleared the fence.

As Hicks was about to touch home the umpire called him out for passing a baserunner. Ruggiano's run counted and Hicks was given a long single.

"It comes down to one less mistake. We field the ball in the first inning and we win going away. We don't pass a runner on a home run and we are still playing," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "I'm sure Oklahoma State could say the same thing but it's all that little stuff that adds up to a loss."

OSU got another run on Corey Brown's 16th homer of the season, a solo shot over the center-field wall in the fourth. A&M tied it up in the bottom half of the inning on RBI singles by Hicks and Feltner that drove in Spencer Jackson and Ruggiano.

Kendall Horner put OSU back up on a double off reliever Jason Meyer that got by a charging Feltner and drove in Mercer. Gary Campfield came in and didn't give up a hit, but balked Mercer to third and then threw a wild pitch to allow the Cowboys' eighth run.

A&M answered immediately with four runs in the fifth and made Anderson go deep into his bullpen. Craig Stinson was hit by a pitch, Jackson and Ruggiano walked and Parker Dalton roped a single down the left-field line to drive in two.

Feltner then tripled for the second straight game to give the Aggies a 10-8 lead.

"I can handle losing but it galls me when you walk and hit people," said Anderson, who took Brandon Adams out after just four pitches, all balls. "We used every [pitching] option basically except for [Saturday's starter Odle] Oliver."

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Gabriel Chmielewski A&M's Ben Feltner steals second base as Oklahoma State's Jordy Mercer bobbles the throw.

Anderson used four pitchers in the inning and had Oliver warming up in the bullpen.

While Mercer was closing the door on the Aggies, OSU went through three A&M relievers for their final four runs.

Kiel Renfro induced a doubleplay with his only pitch in the sixth, and got through the seventh, but opened the eighth with a walk before being relieved by lefty Matt Ueckert. Brown doubled and Childress brought in Thebeau, who got the save on Friday and the loss on Saturday.

Thebeau got a big strikeout of cleanup hitter Tyler Mach, walked Matt Mangini to load the bases, and then struck out Rebel Ridling.

Mercer followed by lining a shot that third baseman Ruggiano did a good job of getting a glove on to deflect into foul territory and keep Mercer to a single.

In the ninth, Donnie Webb drew a leadoff walk and was pinch-run for by Dusty Harvard. Keanon Simon, who had the game-winning double on Saturday, sacrificed Harvard to second and then Wright got his fifth homer of the season.

"It's a disappointing loss. There were a lot of things we did right today, a lot of big hits and we made big plays," Childress said. "What we did wrong outweighed what we did right and that's the reason that we lost. Oklahoma State's got a good offense [and if you] give them free baserunners it's going to be a long day and today was a long day."

A&M threw seven pitchers. The Aggies walked eight and hit two batters.

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NOTES - A&M first base coach Will Bolt was thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Chris Coskey. Dalton was called out at first and Bolt believed first baseman Rebel Ridling had come off the bag to make the catch and not gotten back down in time. Bolt argued with first base umpire Tim Garman until Childress took over the discussion. On his way back to the dugout, Bolt was tossed by Coskey, who had come up the first base line. ... OSU's Keanon Simon struck out in the seventh on a pitch that hit him. ... Ruggiano entered the game as a pinch runner for Brodie Greene, who was hit in the head with a pitch. Childress said Greene suffered only a cut.