Baseball Wins UCO Finale

March 16, 2009

EDMOND, Okla. - Southwestern Oklahoma State University rode the strong pitching effort by senior right hander Chris Morrison to win the final game of a four-game baseball series Monday against rival Central Oklahoma. Morrison pitched SWOSU to a 9-2 win the second game of Monday's doubleheader. The Bulldogs were beaten 9-8 in game one. UCO ended up winning the series three games to one after winning 14-0 and 9-7 on Sunday.

SWOSU now 16-12 on the season and 10-10 in the Lone Star Conference will return home Friday to begin an important series against Northeastern State University. SWOSU is tied with three other teams for what is currently the sixth place spot in the conference race. The top six teams will advance to the post-season tournament set for May in Abilene, Texas.

Morrison was outstanding while improving his overall record to 2-2. He pitched eight innings and allowed just two runs on seven hits while striking out three batters. He worked himself out of a number of jams throughout the game as the Bronchos ended up leaving nine runners on base.

SWOSU took a 4-2 lead with three unearned runs in the sixth and then added two more runs in the eighth and three in the ninth for good measure. The Bulldogs had a number of hitting stars as they worked over four different UCO pitchers for 12 hits. Jon-Andrew Martin went three-for-three with four RBI's, including an eighth-inning homer that put the game in the win column. Morgan Marr had three hits and scored twice while Ryan Salsbury scored three times for the Bulldogs.

In the first game Monday, SWOSU rallied to tie the game at 7-7 with three runs in their half of the fourth inning. Ricky Kirby had an RBI single and Travis Rose drove in two runs with a double to knot the score.

The Bronchos inched ahead scoring a run in the fourth and another in the sixth to take a 9-7 lead. Martin brought the Bulldogs to within one with solo home run in the seventh but no other Bulldog reached base.

In Sunday's 9-7 loss, UCO jumped out to a 8-0 lead only to watch as the Bulldogs begin their climb back. SWOSU had made it 9-6 in the sixth inning after Tyler Powell's double that scored two runners. Blake Mounce drove in a run with a two-out double in the ninth to cut UCO's lead to 9-7 but was left at that spot when the next batter flew out to end the game.

Little went right for SWOSU in the first game in a 14-0 loss. UCO pitcher Brian Murphy went the distance pitching seven complete innings, allowing just eight hits and striking out eight batters. Only one SWOSU player, Bow Buckner, had more than one hit against Murphy.