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 Roll Tide Alabama cruises past Oklahoma State in CWS opener
Posted: Friday June 11, 1999 11:05 PM OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Justin Smith grew up cheering for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. On Friday, he shut them down. Smith overcame a bumpy start and pitched six strong innings, striking out seven in Alabama's 11-3 victory in the opening game of the College World Series. Smith, a native of Elk City, Okla., allowed three hits, an unearned run and walked three. As a teen-ager, he said he always dreamed of suiting up for the Cowboys in the CWS. "That's where I wanted to go. I thought that's where I had my best shot of getting to Omaha," Smith said. "It all sorted out the way it was supposed to. The fact they didn't recruit me didn't bother me. I just wanted to play." Jeremy Brown, Antonio Bostic and Erik Smallwood hit home runs as Alabama stretched its winning streak to a school-record 16 games. The Crimson Tide (52-14) play Sunday against Miami. Andy Phillips of Alabama singled to left in the third to extend his hitting streak to 34 games, breaking a tie with LSU's Todd Walker for the Southeastern Conference record set in 1993. "I'm seeing the ball pretty well right now," Phillips said. "I can't take any credit for it, though. They're just pitching me now. I hope it continues." Carlos Gautreaux homered and scored twice for the Cowboys (46-20), who meet Rice in Sunday's elimination game. Smith (6-4) struggled against three of the first four batters he faced. He walked two on nine pitches, then went to a full count before getting Billy Gasparino to fly deep to left. Smith then hit Josh Holliday to load the bases. He got the second out when Gautreaux was forced at home on a grounder by Jay McCullough. After running the count to 3-0 against Lamont Matthews, who leads the nation with 105 RBIs, Smith struck him out looking. "That was huge," Alabama coach Jim Wells said. "He wasn't able to get the fastball down and the mound was bothering him a little bit." Smith settled down, retiring seven straight through the third. Although Smith's pitch count reached 85 through four innings, he never seemed to tire even when Scott Murphy relieved him in the seventh. "The pitch count was getting to me," Smith said. "I was throwing a lot of fast balls and I got a little tired when the curve ball saved me. I was able to get it over, so that's why I probably didn't look tired." Oklahoma State coach Tom Holliday said we didn't know anything about Smith until reporters asked about him leading up to the CWS. "I'm sorry. He came out of Oklahoma and I didn't know who he was," Holliday said. "Obviously, he turned into a pretty good little pitcher. I'd like to have him back, but they don't let us make trades in this business." Brown gave the Tide a 2-0 lead in the second when he followed G.W. Keller's infield hit with a homer to left off Cowboys starter Thom Drier (8-6). Oklahoma State was scoreless until an unearned run in the fifth. Gautreaux reached on an error when Brown dropped a throw at first. Kevin Lucas and Gasparino hit consecutive singles to score Gautreaux. Bostic's homer to right-center gave the Tide an 8-1 lead. Brent Boyd followed with a single and Smallwood homered on a 2-0 count. Gautreux led off the seventh with a home run that barely cleared the 332-foot marker down the right-field line. Alabama added another run in the eighth when Bostic drew a leadoff walk, went to third on Phillips' two-out single and scored Keller's double. Oklahoma State's final run came in the ninth, when Lucas singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Holliday's single.
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