Offense Tallies 24 Runs in Victory

NORMAN, Okla. -- Freshman Aaron Baker continued to swing a hot bat in Oklahoma's 24-4 win on Saturday over Western Illinois. Oklahoma scored seven runs in the first inning and never looked back in sealing the series win. The Sooners, who defeated the Leathernecks 1-0 on Friday, improved to 4-4 on the season while Western Illinois dropped to 6-4 with the loss.

Baker was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle after leading off the sixth inning with a solo home run, his second of the year. The freshman finished the day 5-for-6 with two RBIs and five runs scored and extended his team-high hitting streak to eight games. The Denton, Texas, native's five base knocks ties the school-record for hits in a game. He is the 22nd player in OU history to accomplish the feat and first since Greg Dobbs in 2001 (UT-Arlington on May 2).

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After OU took the 7-0 lead after the first inning, WIU battled back with a pair of runs in the third inning and a solo score in the third. However, the Sooners responded with five runs in the fifth, three in the sixth and seventh and six in their last at-bat in the eighth.

“I thought our guys did a great job to come right out of the gate and score seven runs in the first inning and I thought that was important based on the 1-0 victory yesterday,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “I was also proud of the way we responded with the five-run fifth after they narrowed the lead to 7-3.”

Baker joined Aljay Davis (2-for-5, 2 RBIs), Joe Dunigan (3-for-5, 3 RBIs), Mike Gosse (2-for-4, RBI), Jarod Freeman (2-for-3, 3 RBIs), Vinny Biancamano (3-for-6, 4 RBIs) and Aaron Reza (3-for-4, two RBIs) as the seven Sooners to connect for multiple hits on Saturday. The OU offense outhit the Leathernecks 24-4 and have limited the opposition to seven total hits in the series.

Additionally, the offense plated the most runs by an Oklahoma team since 1996 (25 on Feb. 18 against Oklahoma City) and collected the most hits since April 29 of last season (25 vs. Kansas).

“Aaron Baker had a terrific performance today and proved he is a special player in receiving his first start at catcher,” said Golloway. “He has done everything that has been asked of him and was one of numerous guys that swung that bat well today. We hope this is the offensive performance this team needed to help boost its confidence.”

Behind the best offensive performance of the season, OU received another solid outing from the starting rotation as junior Ryan Mottern lasted 6 2/3 inning for his first win of the season. Mottern allowed three runs on four hits and two walks to improve to 1-2.

“Ryan would be the first to admit that he did not have his best stuff, but the way he competed today was special.” added Golloway. “You can't have your best stuff every time you take the mound and competing the way he did today proves he is a weekend starter.”

OU will look to extend its season-high two-game winning streak on Sunday at 1 p.m. as junior Brad Burns (0-0, 6.75 ERA) is set to throw against WIU's Rob Johnson (1-0, 4.26 ERA).

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