AUSTIN, Texas (March 31, 2009) The No. 9 Texas Longhorns scored the game-winning run on a balk in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Oral Roberts 5-4 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday evening.
With two outs and the scored tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Brandon Loy drew a walk and stole second base. The Golden Eagles were attempting to intentionally walk Michael Torres when the ball-three pitch sailed wild and allowed Loy to move to third. Oral Roberts continued the walk of Torres to put runners at the corners. Pinch-hitter David Hernandez stepped to the play and before seeing a pitch ORU's Jameson Dunn stepped off and faked to first, inciting the balk call from first base umpire Tim Henderson for the game-winning run.
The two teams battled to a scoreless tie through six innings before the Longhorns broke the scoring seal in the bottom of the seventh. Tant Shepherd hit a lead-off single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Preston Clark. Tim Maitland pinch-ran for Shepherd and Kevin Keyes and Kyle Lusson followed with walks to load the bases. Travis Tucker singled through the left side of the infield to plate Maitland and Loy was hit by a pitch to drive in Connor Rowe who was pinch-running for Keyes. Torres inflated the cushion to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly and the Horns completed the scoring when Tucker scored on a wild pitch.
The Longhorns appeared headed to their sixth shutout of the season with closer Austin Wood on the mound before hitting a rough patch in the top of the ninth. Robert Barbosa drew a leadoff walk and Colby Price singled to rightfield to spark the Oral Roberts rally. Danny Duffy hit a possible double-play grounder but the ball's path was interrupted by Wood and resulted in an infield single. Tyler Garewal hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield to cut the lead to 4-1 and Juan Martinez followed with a double to the gap in left centerfield to plate Price. The Golden Eagles cut the lead to one run with a sacrifice fly by Seth Furmanek and ORU tied the game with a single through the left side by Michael Notaro.
Despite the four runs in the top of the ninth, the pitching was the bright spot of the evening for the Longhorns who recorded 12 strikeouts. Taylor Jungmann weaved 2.0 innings of scoreless ball as the starter. He allowed one hit and two walks, but fanned five Golden Eagles. Andrew McKirahan added 2.0 shutout innings, yielding two hits and one walk while striking out three. Stayton Thomas and Keith Shinaberry worked a scoreless fifth inning before handing the ball to Kendal Carrillo in his first-ever appearance as a Longhorn. Carrillo worked 2.0 shutout innings, scattering two hits while striking out three. The win was credited to Wood (4-0) who worked a scoreless eighth inning before the wheels fell off the wagon in the ninth.
Dunn (1-3) was saddled with the loss for Oral Roberts, allowing one run on two walks and two strikeouts over 1.2 innings. Mark Serrano put in a solid effort as the starter, with 5.0 innings of shutout baseball, scattering two hits and one walk while striking out six. Spencer Roberts withstood most of the damage for the Golden Eagles, allowing four runs on three hits and two walks over 1.1 innings.
Tucker paced the Texas offense, going 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI.
Martinez, Barbosa and Price each had two hits for the Golden Eagles.
Texas returns to action on Friday with a 6:30 p.m. game at Oklahoma State. The game kicks off a three-game Big 12 series in Stillwater with Saturday's game slated for 2 p.m. and Sunday's contest scheduled for 1 p.m.
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