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May 17, 2008 on 8:40 pm | In Athletics |

NORMAN, Okla. - The Western Illinois baseball team jumped to an early lead, but could not avoid a sweep as Oklahoma won the series finale 7-4.

The Leathernecks (0-6) came out strong with leadoff hitter Cole Waddell singling on the first pitch of the game. Brett Pendell moved him over with a bunt. After a Kenny Price walk, Drew Laidig delivered an RBI single to give Western its first lead of the series.

After Ben Percival sent the Sooners (12-2) down in order in the first, the Leathernecks went back to work at the plate. Zach Berg was hit by a pitch on a full count and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Kyle Surprenant. Berg moved up to third on a Jared Wolf ground out. Waddell ripped a single in to left to make it a 2-0 ball game.

Western stayed after it offensively in the third. After the first two batters were retired, Laidig was hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch moved him up to second, Cooper Stewart came through with an RBI-single to center field. A Tyler Metcalf single put Stewart in scoring position for Berg, who singled to left to stretch the advantage to 4-0.

“We are swinging the bat really well,” Western Illinois head coach Stan Hyman said. “Those first three innings we had a simple game plan: get the leadoff guy on, move him over and get him in. It was working like clockwork.”

Oklahoma came to life in the bottom of the third as Trey Sperring hit a one-out double to start the rally. Tyson Seng was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up on a ground out to first. Aljay Davis brought both of them in with a single to cut Western’s lead in half.

J.T. Wise led off the fourth inning with a solo home run. A single and then botched pick-off allowed the Sooners to get a runner to third with one out. After a walk to Matt Harughty, Oklahoma had runners on first and third. Percival got a fly ball to left from Sperring. Harughty was thrown out trying to advance to second, but not before the run crossed the plate, tying the game at 4-4.

Neither team scored in the fifth and after the Leathernecks stranded Wolf on third, who had singled in the top of the sixth, the Sooners were looking to take their first lead of the game. Percival struggled and after a pair of walks with a single in between, Oklahoma had the bases loaded with no one out. Justin Eissens came in to relieve Percival and forced a ground ball to Metcalf at first that cut down a run at the plate for the first out. Eissens retired the next batter on strikes. With two outs, Eissens got another ground ball on the infield from Sperring, but it was just beyond the reach of Laidig at third and allowed two runs to score.

“Percival threw outstanding today and gave us a great opportunity to win,” Hyman added of his starter. “They hit a couple of balls through the hole though. I thought Eissens gave us some great innings too. If we can get guys to throw like that, we’re going to win a lot of games.”

The Sooners tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning for the victory.

The Leathernecks notched 10 hits for the ball game, the second time this weekend they reached double digits in hits.

“They are a very good baseball team who is going to win a lot of games this year,” said Hyman. “We’re still making too many mistakes and you’re not going to win against a team like that if you make those mistakes.”

“I feel better about where we’re going,” Hyman continued. “We’ve played two good games in a row. We’re taking baby steps right now. Going to California, we feel good about our ball club, not good about our record, but good about our ball club. A couple days ago we weren’t feeling good. We’ll continue to take the little steps and hopefully get over the hump.”

Western heads to California for four games this week. The first is against No. 10 Long Beach State, Tuesday, March 11 at 8:30 p.m. (CST).

Originaly from Source