Bronchos Sweep No. 18 Tarleton

4/16/2011 5:27:11 PM

Jordan Stern

Game One Box
Game Two Box

EDMOND (April 16) – Workhorse pitchers Uriah Fisher and Jordan Stern threw back-to-back complete games to carry Central Oklahoma to an impressive Lone Star Conference doubleheader sweep of No. 18-ranked Tarleton State here Saturday afternoon at Wendell Simmons Field.

Fisher escaped a pair of jams while giving up 10 hits in seven innings for a 4-1 victory in the opener that ended Tarleton's 12-game winning streak and the Bronchos polished off the sweep when Stern scattered eight hits in nine innings of a 6-2 second-game triumph.

UCO improved to 16-22 overall and 10-19 in the LSC, while the league-leading Texans fell to 29-9 and 18-8. The teams finish the three-game series Sunday with an 11:30 a.m. nine-inning contest.

“Today was a big step in the rebuilding process of our program,” UCO coach Dax Leone said. “The mission here since we arrived at UCO is to continue to restore the national respect that all of our alumni built. Make no mistake, this is one of the most prestigious baseball jobs around.”

Fisher gave up 10 hits in the first game, but he allowed just one fourth-inning run while striking out six and left nine Tarleton runners on base. The Texans stranded two runners in three innings, including the ninth when Fisher got a game-ending strikeout with his 121st pitch to leave runners on second and third.

UCO scored its first run without a hit when Ryan Schoonover led off the second inning with a walk, stole second, went to third on a Derik Grimes groundout and scored on Arrow Cunningham's groundout to second base.

The Bronchos pushed the advantage to 4-0 in the third, getting a key two-run double from Tyler Hancock. Jordan Mullin led off the inning with a walk and went to third on Tucker Brown's single and both scored on Hancock's one-out double to right field.

Hancock moved to third on an errant pick-off throw by the TSU pitch and then scored on Schoonover's sacrifice fly to center field to make it 4-0.

The Texans got their lone run in the fourth, with Fisher shutting them out the rest of the way.

UCO finished with just four hits, two by Hancock.

Stern had an even more dominating effort in the nightcap, striking out 11 while walking just two in a 137-pitch outing. He had nine of those strikeouts in the final six innings when he shut out the Texans as UCO broke away from a 2-2 tie to take the win.

The Bronchos broke on top 2-0 in the first inning as Keegan Morrow and Schoonover had RBI singles, but Tarleton got a run in the second and another in the third to tie it.

UCO answered back in the fourth to move in front for good, with Brown smashing a three-run home run – his third of the season – to left-center field to make it 5-2. The Bronchos added an insurance run in the fifth when Schoonover reached on an error, went to third on Kevin Blue's single and scored on Kade Kauk's bunt single.

That 6-2 lead was more than enough for Stern, who overwhelmed Tarleton down the stretch.

Brown went 3-for-5 to lead UCO's 11-hit attack, while Morrow, Blue and Mullin had two hits apiece.

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