Philadelphia, PA – The Oklahoma State Cowboys stayed alive in the 2013 NCAA Tournament with a 7-3 win over the Bowling Green Falcons in the loser's bracket of the Louisville Regional.
The third-seed Cowboys (40-18), who lost 7-0 to Miami-Florida on day one, staved off elimination behind a strong outing from starting pitcher Tyler Nurdin. Nurdin allowed three runs, two of which were earned, over seven innings and struck out five batters to earn the win. Saulyer Saxon was 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored while Gage Green was 1-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored.
Cody Apthorpe allowed four runs on four hits and four walks in just 1 1/3 innings of work as the starter to take the loss for Bowling Green (24-31), which was eliminated from contention.
Louisville and Miami met up in the winner's bracket later on Saturday and in that matchup Louisville posted a 6-4 victory to advance to the regional final.
The Cardinals (48-12) were trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning but they then erupted for six runs with three coming on a double from Nick Ratajczak, who was 1-for-3 in the game.
Louisville had just five hits as a team but it was enough to get the win. Kyle Funkhouser allowed three runs in the eighth inning but Nick Burdi was then brought in and by not allowing any runs in the final two innings got the save.
David Thompson and Brad Fieger each drove in two runs but Miami (37-24) had just four hits as a team. Bryan Radziewski allowed five runs, four of which were earned, while striking out eight batters in 6 1/3 innings of work to take the loss.
Miami will now need to defeat Oklahoma State yet again in the first game on Sunday to get to the regional final later in the day. The Hurricanes shutout the Cowboys, 7-0, on Friday.
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