COLLEGE BASEBALL

Cowboys find way, nip Hogs

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn motions from the dugout during a game against St. John's on Sunday, May 31, 2015, at Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.

STILLWATER, Okla. -- No. 20 Oklahoma State made the most of its opportunities Tuesday night at Reynolds Stadium. No. 15 Arkansas did not.

The end result was a 5-4 victory for the Cowboys, who scored their fourth and fifth runs by capitalizing on an Arkansas error in the seventh inning to take the lead and by fooling the Razorbacks with a sneaky delayed steal in the eighth.

The Razorbacks (18-7), who scored three in the second and one in the ninth, loaded the bases in the sixth and seventh innings and couldn't score, then left the tying run stranded on second in the ninth.

"It was a tough night for us as far as just getting the big hit," said Coach Dave Van Horn, whose Razorbacks drew 6 walks, had 8 hits but left 10 runners on base.

It was also a difficult night in the field for an Arkansas team that did not make an error in its home sweep of Auburn last weekend.

Third baseman Carson Shaddy's throwing error set up Oklahoma State's go-ahead run when he held onto the ball too long when fielding a soft grounder hit by Oklahoma State catcher Collin Theroux.

The late throw led to a close play and a throw that pulled first baseman Cullen Gassaway off the bag.

Van Horn said he thought if Shaddy had thrown it earlier, even if the throw was up the line, Gassaway could have caught it and tagged the runner.

"But he waited too long, and he knew what he did," Van Horn said.

The Cowboys (18-7) followed with back-to-back singles off right-hander Doug Willey (0-1) to load the bases with no outs. Shortstop Jacob Chappell grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but it was enough to get Theroux across the plate with the go-ahead run, putting OSU ahead 4-3.

"I put this loss on me," said Shaddy, a redshirt sophomore who is new at third after playing catcher and outfield last season. "I made a bad throw ... and that ended up being the difference in the game."

The difference-maker might have come in the eighth, when Oklahoma State's Andrew Rosa fooled most in the stadium, including Arkansas catcher Tucker Pennell, with a clever base-running maneuver.

Oklahoma State had runners on first and third with two outs, and Van Horn said the defensive play for Pennell was to fake a throw if Rosa, who was on first, stole second.

Rosa didn't steal, though. He tripped -- or he pretended to, at least.

"We tried to maybe catch an overaggressive catcher," Oklahoma State Coach Josh Holliday said. "Had the runner release and act like he fell down, knowing that if he comes up and makes a throw, we might be able to steal home."

Pennell fired toward first, the thought being it was an easy third out.

But Rosa was quickly back on his feet and on his way to second, while Ryan Sluder zipped home to make it 5-3.

"They ran a good play. It worked," Van Horn said. "But realistically, the game was lost earlier in the game."

Van Horn was referring to the sixth and seventh innings, when Arkansas loaded the bases with one out. Each time, Oklahoma State right-hander Remey Reed (3-1) shut the door.

Three of the Razorbacks' first four hitters walked in the sixth.

But sophomore Chad Spanberger struck out -- "he's got to put the bat on the ball," Van Horn said -- and senior Michael Bernal, who had an RBI double in the three-run second inning, hit a pop fly to center that landed in Sluder's glove as he sprinted in and dived for the ball.

Gassaway bounced a ground ball back to Reed with the bases loaded in the seventh to start an inning-ending double play.

Arkansas scored one run in the ninth on a Shaddy RBI single that scored Pennell, but Gassaway struck out and Rick Nomura grounded out to second with the tying run on second base.

Arkansas scored three runs in the second to take an early lead, which allowed Razorbacks fans in the crowd of 2,418 to chant and celebrate for a brief moment.

Oklahoma State countered with three runs in the bottom of the second to tie the game, and the Razorbacks never led again.

"We set up the innings pretty well, it seemed like," Shaddy said. "We just didn't have the right mentality, I guess, at the plate."

SUN BELT

ARKANSAS STATE 11,

MEMPHIS 5

Leadoff batter Ty White was 4 for 5, while Matt Burgess and Joe Schrimpf both went 2 for 4 to lead Arkansas State to a victory over Memphis in Memphis.

ASU (12-12) led 5-0 after four innings but broke the game open with four runs in the fifth inning. Memphis (9-15) rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

ASU added insurance in the top of the ninth on a two-run home run from Burgess. The Red Wolves had 11 hits but could have done more damage as they left 13 runners on base. The Tigers had eight hits and left seven on base.

OKLAHOMA 5, UALR 2

Oklahoma (12-13-1) scored three runs in the third inning to break Tuesday’s game open, and UALR (12-12) could not take advantage of three Sooners errors as its six-game winning streak ended at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock.

The Trojans took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Nik Gifford scored as Keegan Meyn reached on an Oklahoma error. The Sooners responded with three runs in the third inning. Alex Wise scored on a wild pitch, and Jack Flansburg drove in two more runs with a single to right field.

Wise hit an RBI double to left field to give the Sooners a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning. The lead increased to 5-1 in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk.

Dalton Thomas walked in the bottom of the fifth for UALR and scored on Cameron Knight’s single to cut the lead to 5-2. Thomas singled in the seventh inning for his only hit of the game, extending his hitting streak to 20 consecutive games.

Wise and Hunter Southerland were both 2 for 4 to lead the Sooners. Ryan Scott, the Sun Belt Conference player of the week, led UALR by going 3 for 4, while Hayden Martin was 2 for 4.

Kyle Tyler (1-0) got the victory for the Sooners after allowing 1 unearned run on 4 hits with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks in 4 innings. Starter Will Hazen (1-3) took the loss for the Trojans. He allowed 3 earned runs on 3 hits with 2 strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.

SOUTHLAND/SWAC

CENTRAL ARKANSAS 4,

UAPB 3 (11)

Hunter Strong’s RBI single in the bottom of the 11th inning gave the Bears a victory over UAPB at Bear Stadium in Conway.

Michael Haun was hit by a pitch for the third time in Tuesday’s game to lead off the 11th inning for UCA (12-11). Haun advanced to second on a Brandon Montalvo sacrifice bunt and moved to third on William Hancock’s fly ball to center field. Strong then hit the first pitch he saw from UAPB reliever Ciji Ramos into center field to end the game.

UAPB (6-17) used 11 pitchers and 25 players, while UCA used four pitchers and two pinch hitters, including Strong in the seventh inning. Closer Jacob Murray (1-2) pitched the final three innings to earn the victory, while Ramos (0-3) took the loss.

The Bears left the bases loaded in the fifth inning, stranded two more runners in the sixth and left 13 total runners on base. UCA used two UAPB errors in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Golden Lions went ahead 2-1 in the fourth with three hits and a UCA error. UCA took a 3-2 lead in the seventh on an RBI base hit from Hancock and a triple from Matt Anderson. UAPB tied the game at 3-3 in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Jacob Columbo.

Hancock was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and 1 run scored for UCA, while Montalvo finished 2 for 4 with 1 run scored. Both teams managed eight hits, but no UAPB player had more than one.

Sports on 03/30/2016