Sooner pitching falls apart late in 9-4 loss to Missouri

By John Helsley

Published: April 19, 2008

NORMAN — When Sooner pitcher Jeremy Erben walked the leadoff man on four pitches to start the seventh inning Friday night, it seemed like nothing more than the end of the night for a tiring starter.

Instead, it was the beginning of the end for Oklahoma.

By the final out of the seventh, Coleman had batted again — and walked again, on four pitches again — as the bullpen lost control in a 9-4 loss to Missouri before 1,039 at Mitchell Park.

The Sooners entered the seventh with a 4-1 lead built behind Erben's solid start.

Four relievers, four walks, one hit batter and two well-placed hits later, the Tigers were in front 5-4 and on their way to a win in the Big 12 series opener.

Mizzou improved to 27-9 overall and 8-5 in league play. OU fell to 24-14-1 and 3-9-1.

The Sooners fell, too, deeper into a pitching funk that has betrayed efforts to compete in the Big 12.

In the six league games leading into Friday night, five of those losses, OU pitchers had issued 32 walks and hit eight batters.

The toll rose against the Tigers, who accepted six walks and a hit batsman — resulting in three runs scored and another driven in.

"It kind of ballooned there in the seventh when all of us had trouble finding the strike zone,” said Erben. "It's hard to get people out when they're not swinging and we're just giving them free passes.

"A lot of free passes, they get a big clutch hit and some runs in. That's tough, to have an inning like that.”

Erben, a sophomore right-hander, surely deserved a better fate.

Matched up with unbeaten Missouri ace Aaron Crow, who many expect to be one of the first few players taken in Major League Baseball's June draft, Erben had allowed just three hits and one run through six innings.

But he admitted to tiring when he walked Trevor Coleman to start the seventh, having thrown 98 pitches.

"It started getting away from me in the seventh,” Erben said. "It was the right call to go to the bullpen.”

Right call, wrong results.

Michael Rocha relieved Erben and after allowing a single to Steve Gray, hit nine-hole hitter Kyle Mach on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases.

Tigers second baseman Greg Folgia then drove a 3-2 offering from Rocha into the left-center field gap for a double, scoring all three runners to tie it 4-4.

Mark Guest came on for Rocha and struck out Kurt Calvert for the second out, only to walk Aaron Senne.

The Sooners turned to Garrett Richards from the bullpen, but he didn't retire a batter, walking Jacob Priday and giving up an infield single to Ryan Lewis that made it 5-4.

C.J. Blue finally got OU out of the inning, but only after walking Coleman — on four pitches — to push across another run.

Missouri added three more runs in the eighth, helping Crow improve to 9-0.

"It was one key batter for every guy,” said Sooners coach Sunny Golloway. "Each guy had a key guy that you've got to get out.

"All three situations we didn't execute.”

The teams meet again at 2 p.m. today, with OU trying to reverse a course that has them currently in ninth place in the Big 12 — outside the conference tournament.

"You stay positive with them, continue to encourage young men to go out there and do the best they can,” Golloway said. "Tomorrow, we might have to go to the same guys.

"You tell them, ‘Tomorrow's a new day.'”

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