OU Drops Game 3, Nebraska Series

NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 23 OU baseball team (25-13, 5-7 Big 12) dropped its second consecutive game to Nebraska (22-14, 7-8), 12-5, on Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The game also marked the third consecutive Big 12 series defeat for the Sooners since taking two of three from Texas A&M in the conference opener.

Oklahoma opened this weekend's series with Nebraska on Saturday with a 3-0 victory, but fell 6-4 in game two of the doubleheader before dropping Sunday's rubber match.

The Sooners held a 5-3 lead after two innings, but went scoreless throughout the remainder of the game as the Cornhuskers added three runs in the third and a pair of scores in the fifth, sixth and ninth innings.

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After the Huskers placed three runs on the board in the first inning off starter Joseph Hughes (5-3), the OU offense responded with four runs in the bottom of the first frame.

Leadoff hitter Aljay Davis got things rolling for OU with a single to right field in the first. Aaron Ivey's walk moved Davis to second and after Aaron Reza's sacrifice bunt placed both runners in scoring position, Ryan Mottern continued his recent hot streak with a double to left-center field. Aaron Baker immediately followed with an extra-base hit of his own, a double down the right-field line, and Jackson Williams capped the scoring in the first with a run-scoring single through the middle of the infield.

The first-inning success was nothing new to the Sooners who have outscored the opposition 33-10 in that frame. OU also entered Sunday's game with a 7-0 record when scoring in their first at-bat.

Reza's sacrifice fly in the second inning increased the Sooners' lead to two runs in the second and just when it appeared the momentum was on their side, the Nebraska offense chased Hughes out of the third inning.

The Sooners' starter did not make it out of the third frame after yielding six runs on eight hits and two walks. Reliever Chris Henry was unable to slow down Nebraska's offense as he surrendered four runs on five hits, two of which cleared the fence at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

With a comfortable lead, Nebraska reliever Luke Wertz (2-0) cruised to his second win of the season. Wertz took over for starter Drew Bowman, who only managed to record one out after giving up four runs and four hits in the first.

Wertz allowed the Sooners to score one run on his watch as he retired 22 of the final 26 batters. The reliever finished the afternoon with five hits allowed and one walk through 8 2/3 innings.

Andrew Doyle was the only OU pitcher on Sunday to limit the Nebraska offense. Doyle lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed one hit and one walk after taking over for Henry. Doyle also struck out two batters in the relief appearance. Since allowing three runs in his first two outings as a Sooner (3 2/3 innings), Doyle has registered six consecutive outings of shutting out the opposition, spanning 7 1/3 innings of work.

For Nebraska, Andrew Brown had a game-high four hits and his three RBIs were only second to teammate Craig Corriston, who drove in four runs. Mottern and Davis each collected two hits for Oklahoma. Mottern, who only saw one at-bat in 2007 prior to this weekend, finished his two games against Nebraska with six hits and four RBIs in eight at-bats.

OU will look to rebound when it returns to action on Tuesday, April 17 at TCU. The game is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Lupton Stadium in Forth Worth, Texas.

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