Feb. 29, 2008

Box Score

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - In a back-and-forth contest that saw the lead change hands five times, Arkansas first baseman Aaron Murphree ended it with one swing - a walk-off two-run home run - and gave Louisiana Tech its first loss of the season, 9-8, in the opening game of the Domino's Pizza Aggie Baseball Classic at Olsen Field.

Tech senior Aaron Lorio (0-1) relieved Jamey Bradshaw after the lefty walked Brett Eibner with one out in the ninth. But Lorio's first offering was exactly what Murphree was looking for, and he deposited it over the center field wall to win the game and give Lorio his first loss of the year. Arkansas' Travis Hill (1-0) got the win after recording the final out in Tech's half of the ninth.

"I'll take all the blame for this one," Tech head coach Wade Simoneaux said. "I had (Alex) Richard ready to go, and I went with Lorio on short rest. This one's on me."

It was a heartbreaking defeat for the Bulldogs (6-1), who had rallied from a two-run deficit to take the lead in the eighth inning. Arkansas (5-0) now faces host Texas A&M on Saturday.

Albie Goulder led the way for Tech once again with a 3-for-5 afternoon, scoring three runs. Jericho Jones and Chris Kersten each had a pair of hits, and Kersten drove in two runs with his 400-foot blast to straightaway center field in the fifth inning.

Luke Burnett got the start and threw 105 pitches, giving up six runs (five earned) on 10 hits while striking out three. Bradshaw kept Tech in the game by giving up only two runs on two hits in his 2.1 innings of work.

Tech got on the board first when Drew Bunting, with two outs, faked a steal of second to draw a throw from the Arkansas catcher. The Razorback shortstop bobbled the throw, allowing Nick Grunenwald to score from third, making it 1-0. Bunting, however, was thrown out at first to end the inning.

Arkansas answered quickly with a walk, a single and a double by Logan Forsythe to score Chase Leavitt and Ben Tschepikow, giving the Hogs a 2-1 lead. Burnett would escape with no further damage as he induced two fly balls and struck out one to end the threat. It would mark the first time all season the Bulldogs had trailed at the end of an inning.

But that wouldn't last long. The Bulldogs would tie it back up in the second when Patrick Thomas singled to center, driving in Goulder from third. Burnett then shook off a double in the second to get out of the inning.

Tech would get another in the third on a two-out single by Jericho Jones, driving in Adam Cobb from second to put the `Dawgs ahead 3-2. Arkansas would catch a break in the bottom of the inning when an attempted sacrifice bunt resulted in a two-base error, scoring Tschepikow from second to tie the game at 3-3 and leave runners on second and third with no one out. Both of those runs would score on a single to center by Aaron Murphree to give the Hogs a 5-3 lead.

Arkansas catcher Ryan Cisterna would add to the Razorback lead with a one-out, opposite-field, solo home run in the fourth to make it 6-3.

After a couple of scoreless innings, Chris Kersten would deliver the biggest bomb of the day in the sixth with a two-run shot to dead center field, scoring Goulder to pull within a run at 6-5.

The Hogs would extend their lead to 7-5 in the seventh on the strength of a double by Murphree, scoring Tyler Coon from second. But the Razorbacks would leave runners on second and third as Bradshaw got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.

With the heart of the order up, the Bulldog bats would come alive in the eighth. Tech would load the bases with no outs, leading to a game-tying 2-RBI single from Matt Combs to score Jones and Goulder. Alex Richard would then pinch-hit in the DH spot and make the most of it with a go-ahead RBI single to score Kersten, giving Tech the lead for the first time since the third inning.

The Bulldogs will look to rebound on Saturday as they face Big Ten foe Ohio State at 12:30 p.m. Junior righthander Dylan Moseley (1-0, 0.00) will take the hill for Tech, and he will face either Buckeye lefthander Josh Edgin (0-0, 4.50) or righthander Dean Wolosianski (1-0, 3.00). Live stats will be available through www.latechsports.com.