OU's Taylor Alspaugh went 4-for-4 and knocked in a run against the Red Raiders.
NORMAN, Okla. -- A rested bullpen took control and paved the way for a 3-2 win for Oklahoma against No. 10 Texas Tech at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Sunday afternoon. The Sooners claimed the first Big 12 series of the season with a second consecutive win to improve to 17-9 and 2-1, while the Red Raiders fell to 16-8 and 1-2.
Tech had a run in on two hits and two walks to load the bases with nobody out in the top of the first against OU lefthanded starter Adam Choplick. Hughes immediately turned to his bullpen -- a luxury he had following RHP Alec Hansen’s complete game the day before.
Righthander Robert Tasin limited the damage to one run as he got a strikeout, pop out and groundout to send Oklahoma to the plate.
The Sooners picked up the momentum in the bottom half, starting with a double by Taylor Alspaugh. He went to third on a base hit to shallow left center by Craig Aikin and scored when the ball wasn’t fielded cleanly to knot the game at 1-1.
The bottom of the third opened with a hard double into the left-center gap by Kyle Mendenhall, who moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Kolbey Carpenter. Alspaugh brought in Mendenhall with the go-ahead run on a single to left for his second hit of the day.
The Sooners added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth. Chris Shaw drew a lead-off walk and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Mendenhall. Carpenter smacked a base hit up the middle and Shaw got the green light at third to head home to push the lead to 3-1.
Keaton Hernandez, the second OU reliever of the day, issued a one-out walk and hit-by-pitch in the top of the seventh. Jacob Evans entered and saw one inherited runner score on an error at first, but limited the damage to a run with a strikeout and a grounder back to the mound.
Tasin (4-1) picked up the win by matching a career-high 5.1 scoreless innings pitched. He surrendered just two hits and two walks while striking out six. Evans notched his second save of the season in 2.2 hitless innings to go with three strikeouts and one walk.
Alspaugh finished the game 4-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Hunter Haley went 2-for-3 on the afternoon.
For the Red Raiders, Dominic Moreno (1-3) took the loss in five innings of work. He scattered eight hits while allowing at least one in every inning pitched, and one walk for three runs, two earned and four strikeouts. Righthander Corey Taylor added three innings of scoreless, two-hit relief.
