No. 1 Sun Devils Upend No. 29 Sooners, 10-3, In Baseball

March 15, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - After No. 29 Oklahoma ended No. 1 Arizona State's 19-game winning streak on Friday, the Sun Devils baseball team struck back and defeated the Sooners, 10-3, Friday night in front of 3,806 at Packard Stadium. Reigning Big 12 Conference Player of the Week Jay Yaconetti drove in all three OU runs to provide the offensive highlights for Oklahoma. The rest of the Sooner offense didn't fair so well as they left nine runners on base in the game, including six in scoring position. Oklahoma dropped to 11-4 on the year, while Arizona State improved to 29-2.

Oklahoma put the first run up on the scoreboard for the second time in the series. With one out, senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo (1-for-5) tripled down the right field line and scored on Yaconetti's (2-for-3) sacrifice fly to center field.

OU starting pitcher Buddy Blair (2-2) worked his way out of several jams early in the game, but trouble eventually caught up with him in the fourth inning. ASU generated four runs on three hits and took advantage of two of Blair's seven walks, including one intentional, to score the go ahead runs. Arizona State third baseman Dennis Wyrick (2-for-6) and first baseman Mike Guerrero (3-for-6) were responsible for the four runs on back-to-back two-RBI base hits with two outs.

The Sooners struck back with a run in the top of the fifth frame to make it a 4-2 ballgame in favor of the Sun Devils. Senior center fielder Reggie Willits (1-for-5) led off the inning with a double to right to extend his career high hitting streak to 11 games. After moving over to third base on a groundout by Cornejo, Yaconetti collected his second RBI by pulling a single to left field to plate Willits.

Yaconetti tacked on the Sooners' third run of the game with his team-leading seventh home run of the season in the seventh inning. His shot was hit deep to left field.

All five runs given up by Blair in his five innings of work were earned. Blair also gave up eight hits, while striking out three. Senior righthander Austin Mix surrendered the final five runs in finishing off the last three frames. Mix gave up seven hits, walked two and struck out three during his stint.

In addition to Yaconetti's two-hit performance, freshman second baseman Russell Raley and sophomore first baseman Matt Bose were the other two players in the Sooner lineup to contribute two hits.

The series ends tomorrow with a 7 p.m. start time at Packard Stadium. OU's David Purcey (0-0) and ASU's Erik Averill (5-0) will start on the mound for their respective teams.

SOONER GAME NOTES:

* With his second home run in as many games, junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti has hit home runs in back-to-back games four times this season.

* Senior right fielder Matt Arkison's career best hitting streak improved to eight straight games.

* Although OU's streak of games with double-digit hit totals ended with last night's nine-hit effort, the Sooners managed to collect 11 hits in tonight's game to give them double-digit hits in seven of the last eight games.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 1 Sun Devils Upend No. 29 Sooners, 10-3, In Baseball

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