Nov. 2, 2009

Game 6:  White 6, Red 4 | Box Score   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E  Red 0 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 4 5 1  White 0 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 x 6 6 0  Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO  W - Erben (1-0) 2.2 3 1 1 2 3  L - Winn (1-1) 3.0 3 2 2 3 1  S - Duke (2) 1.0 0 0 0 1 0  Batting Leaders AB R H RBI BB HR  White - Ogle 3 0 1 3 0 0  Red - Mayfield 4 0 1 2 0 0

NORMAN, Okla. -- Tyler Ogle's two-run double in the bottom of the fifth paved the way to a 6-4 win on Monday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park, as White evened the series at three games apiece.

Game seven of the Red/White Series is set for Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m.  Drew Verhagen (White) and Bobby Shore (Red) are the projected starters in a rematch of game three.  Shore won that battle to give his team a 2-1 lead in the series.

Facing its second straight do-or-die game, White controlled most of game seven.  Red's three-game winning streak was snapped as it lost its first contest since the series opener on Oct. 25.

Ogle’s single in the fifth broke a 3-3 tie and came after he drove in his first run on a sacrifice fly in the third inning which gave White a 3-1 lead.

Two other veterans, Jeremy Erben and Ryan Duke, took care of business on the mound to force the seventh and decisive game of the series.

“We knew if we came out and played one game at a time, and played the game the right way, we would even the series,” said Erben, White’s senior captain and manager.  “We have to take the momentum from the last two games into Wednesday.”

Cody Reine gave White the game’s initial lead with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the second inning.

White had just six hits but held Red to five hits and had strong pitching from Luis Collazo, Erben , Jarrett Semler and Duke.

Collazo put together a strong start that featured four innings of hitless baseball but he allowed one run off three walks.  Derek Vaughn was first out of the pen but he was unable to hold the lead as Red tied the game in the fifth inning on a pair of run-scoring singles by Jack Mayfield and Drew Harrison.

White immediately countered in the bottom half of the fifth and handed Kennedy Winn the loss after he allowed the go-ahead runs in three innings of work.

Erben (1-0) relieved Vaughn and limited Red to one run across 2 2/3 innings with three strikeouts.  Jarrett Semler tossed a perfect eighth inning before Duke closed the door in the ninth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Erik Ross gave White some extra insurance on a sacrifice squeeze that scored Danny Black for the 6-4 lead.

“We’ve done a good job of manufacturing runs and had strong pitching performances in the series,” added Erben.  “We are looking for another one from Drew (Verhagen) on Wednesday.”

Mayfield led the Red team with two RBIs, the first coming off a sacrifice fly in the second inning and his single later in the fifth got starter Michael Rocha off the hook.  Rocha allowed three runs in three innings before handing the ball over to Winn.