OU Earns Convincing 9-1 Win Over A&M At Big 12 Tournament

May 24, 2002

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ARLINGTON, Texas - The fourth-seeded Oklahoma baseball team cruised to a 9-1 win over No. 8 seed Texas A&M in the second round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tourmanent on Thursday night at The Ballpark in Arlington. Oklahoma sophomore Mark Roberts (7-3) pitched a masterpiece, going eight innings and surrrendering just one run on five hits, while striking out six. OU took an early 2-0 lead and after A&M leadoff man Eric Reed hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the first innings, Roberts surrendered just four hits over the next eight innings. Freshman Jarod McAuliff came in and slammed the door in the ninth inning.

"It all starts with pitching, and we got excellent pitching from Mark Roberts tonight," said Oklahoma head coach Larry Cochell. "We got off to a great with Charlie (Frasier)'s home run and we stayed after it, which I really liked to see. We are playing some of our best baseball of the season down the stretch here and we're swinging the bat really well."

Charlie Frasier went 2-for-3 with a home run and four runs batted in, while Jason Fransz was 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Both Frasier and Fransz hit home runs against Texas A&M during the regular season. Eddie Cornejo went 2-for-4, extending his season-long hitting streak to 14 games, and both Matt Fisher and Chris Jakubauskas registered two hits.

Oklahoma got on the board first when Frasier drilled a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to give the Sooners a 2-0 lead. Texas A&M answered with a first-pitch solo home run by leadoff man Eric Reed, the first homer of his career.

Oklahoma had another big inning in the third, scoring two runs on three hits to take a 4-1 lead. Reggie Willits walked to lead off the inning and after Cornejo singled, Willits scored on a base hit by Fransz and a fielding error by A&M left fielder David Evans. Frasier then singled to put runners on first and second, and Jakubauskas then ripped a double off the wall in left field, bringing Cornejo home. The Sooners, however, left men on second and third in the inning.

The Sooners chased Texas A&M starter Ryan Warpinski in the fourth inning and moved their lead to 7-1 with three more tallies. Kitch reached on an error by A&M shortstop Matt Alexander and after a base hit by Willits, Cornejo laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring Kitch in. Frasier then drilled a two-run double down the left field line, plating Willits and Fransz.

OU added two more runs in the sixth as Fransz blasted a two-run home run to right field, gving the team a 9-1 lead and him his 15th dinger on the season.

With tonight's win, Oklahoma has earned a day off and on Saturday at 1 p.m., will battle the winner of Friday's loser's bracket contest between Texas and Texas A&M. With two losses apiece, Baylor and Oklahoma State have been eliminated from the tournament. On Friday, two more schools will be sent packing as Kansas State battles Texas Tech at 4 p.m. and Texas squares off against Texas A&M at 7 p.m. Along with OU, Nebraska has earned two wins in its tournament sub-division.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

OU Earns Convincing 9-1 Win Over A&M At Big 12 Tournament

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