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June 3, 2006

Meltdown

John Shinn

Oklahoma has suffered several hard-luck losses with Daniel McCutchen on the mound.

But none were harder to swallow than Friday night’s 6-5 loss to TCU in the first round of the Norman Regional at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The fourth-seeded Horned Frogs (39-21) rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth inning to ship the top-seeded Sooners (40-20) into the losers’ bracket and leave a season-high crowd of 2,838 stunned.

They weren’t the only ones.

“I’m still a little stunned myself,” McCutchen said.

McCutchen (8-8) threw everything he had into earning a complete-game victory. Through eight innings, he’d thrown 124 pitches and was one out away from nailing it down.

But it was a scenario McCutchen had seen before with heartbreaking results.

Three times this season he entered the ninth needing to protect a slim lead for a victory, but all three ended in losses.

“The ninth inning this year has been a nightmare,” McCutchen said.

His final shots at getting that last out resulted in an RBI single from Corey Steglich and a run-scoring double from Ryan Pack, who went 2-for-4, that tied the game.

“I thought McCutchen, especially when he got ahead in the count, could really smell victory and was impressive to watch,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “But I thought if we could keep getting guys to the plate you never knew what could happen.”

OU brought in Will Savage to try and keep the game tied, but he gave up a single to Bryan Kervin to score Pack on a close play at the plate and give TCU a 6-5 lead.

Sooner coach Sunny Golloway was asked if he regretted going with McCutchen as long as he did. McCutchen struck out 11, but threw a career-high 138 pitches.

He didn’t.

“It’s no secret we led the Big 12 in hitting and we lead the nation in defense,” he said. “We were 10th (in the Big 12) in pitching. Today was Daniel’s day. He has been a terrific warrior and he was one out from victory.”

Instead TCU’s Jake Arrieta (14-4) claimed the win. He scattered nine hits over 81/3 innings. He fanned eight, but was in line for the loss until the Horned Frogs’ final at-bat.

Austin Adams’ RBI single put TCU on the scoreboard in the fourth and Matt Carpenter made it 2-0 with a fielder’s choice to plate Chad Huffman.

Huffman, who went 2-for-4, added an RBI single in the fifth to put TCU up 3-0, but McCutchen held the Horned Frogs without a hit in the sixth, seventh and eighth.

When he picked up the ball in the ninth, he had a two-run lead.

The Sooners took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Chuckie Caufield plated Brandon Moss with a fielder’s choice. After a Russell Raley single, Ryan Rohlinger tied it with a double off the right-field fence.

Kevin Smith added an RBI single to give OU the lead and Caufield’s eighth homer of the season made it 5-3.

Caufield pumped his right arm while he rounded the bases and even took a curtain call after the blast.

OU certainly looked like a team on the doorstep of a huge victory.

“I felt confident,” Caufield said, “but playing baseball with aluminum bats … you never know.”

TCU will face Wichita State in the winners’ bracket game at 7 p.m. today. OU will have to beat Houston at 1 p.m. to stay alive.

That will be tough considering what happened Friday.

“We’ll give a good fight,” Golloway said. “Is it a tremendous disappointment? No question. We’ve just got to come back and fight through the losers’ bracket.”

John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com

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