No. 18 Oklahoma Takes Series From No. 13 Texas A&M With 9-5 Win

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Eighteenth-ranked Oklahoma won its fourth straight Big 12 Conference series with a 9-5 win over No. 13 Texas A&M Sunday afternoon at Olsen Field. The four consecutive conference series wins is a first for the OU program in the seven-year history of the Big 12.

After A&M scored four runs in the first inning, senior reliever Mike Swindell (2-2) entered the contest and turned in a clutch pitching performance by shutting down the Aggies' offense for six innings. Junior closer Jarod McAuliff finished the game and made his 84th career appearance on the mound to set the new school record for all-time appearances.

Although Oklahoma was held to only five hits in the game, the biggest one came off the bat of sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger who smashed a grand slam homer to give the Sooners' the lead for good in OU's six-run fourth inning. Oklahoma improved to 25-13 overall and 12-3 in the league as A&M fell to 31-11 overall and 7-8 in the Big 12.

Box Score

“There were two keys to the ballgame: Mike Swindell coming in and stabilizing the game and Ryan Rohlinger's grand slam home run, because you're not going to win many games on five hits,” commented OU head coach Larry Cochell.

Swindell relieved senior righthander Charle House with one out in the second inning and worked a season best six frames. He gave up one run on four hits, walked two and struck out four. After giving up a single run on back-to-back hits in the third inning, he held the Aggies scoreless and only allowed one baserunner in his final 2.1 innings of work. He also performed well in the face of adversity as he stranded four runners in scoring position throughout his stint.

Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (1-for-5) extended his career best hitting streak to 15 games with a RBI-single in the first inning to give OU a 1-0 lead. His base hit to center field scored sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-3) who was earlier hit by a pitch.

The inning continued with a walk to junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-3) to load the bases before junior third baseman Brenan Herrera (0-for-3) brought home another run on a fielder's choice.

Both starting pitchers experienced control problems in their first inning of work and were not able to get out of the frame before being pulled. After the Sooners' two runs chased A&M starter Justin Moore after only .2 innings pitched, OU's starter, junior righthander Daniel McCutchen, was only able to record one out. He issued a walk, hit a batter and was victimized by an error in the field on the first three batters he faced to load the bases. The fourth batter of the frame A&M rightfielder Cory Patton then brought home all three runs on his grand slam home run shot to right field to put the Aggies ahead 4-2.

House entered the game in relief of McCutchen to record the final two outs of the first inning to prevent any further damage. He induced an inning-ending double play on the first batter he faced to strand his eighth-straight inherited runner in his last six outings.

When Aggie reliever Dan Donaldson ran into control problems of his own in the fourth inning, the Sooners took advantage of the situation to tag him and fellow A&M reliever Kyle Marlatt (3-1) for six runs. Donaldson put two runners on base with back-to-back walks before the first run scored on a failed pick off attempt at first base. Donaldson hit a batter before exiting and Marlatt loaded the bases two batters later on the third walk of the inning.

Raley drove in a run with an infield single to keep the bases loaded for Rohlinger who hit his first career grand slam home run to tack on the final four runs of the frame and give Oklahoma back the lead at 8-5.

Thornton went deep for his fifth home run of the year to lead off the seventh inning to pad OU's lead at 9-5.

Oklahoma returns home on Tuesday for the conclusion of a two game set against TCU at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.