OU Upends Missouri in Big 12 Champ.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Sooners, seeded seventh in the 2007 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, ended a four-game losing streak in the tournament opener with a 7-2 win over the No. 2 seed, Missouri, on Wednesday in front of 6,206 fans at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

The win also snapped a three-game losing streak against the Tigers in the Big 12 Championship for OU and improved the Sooners' overall record to 33-23. Missouri, ranked No. 11 in this week's Baseball America poll, dropped to 39-15 after allowing 13 hits and stranding 14 runners on base.

Trailing 1-0 after two innings, the Sooners rallied with six runs over the next three frames, giving Heath Taylor (9-3) plenty of insurance on the mound. Taylor entered the ball game in the fifth inning after Joseph Hughes pitched four innings in the start (five hits, two runs). For the second consecutive outing against Missouri, Taylor held the opposition scoreless in four innings of one-hit relief. Taylor tossed five innings and allowed five hits two weeks ago in Columbia, Mo. during the Sooners' 5-0 win on May 12.

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“We had to win this ball game and we understood that (coming in),” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “I am proud of our guys effort but we are a long ways from done.”

Missouri took the first lead of the ball game on Kyle Mach's run-scoring single to center field in the second inning. The Sooners quickly countered in their next at-bat with a pair of RBI doubles by Joe Dunigan and Jackson Williams in the top of the third frame.

OU increased its lead in the fourth and scored its third run on Bryant Hernandez first career home run. Hernandez drove a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left field to give the Sooners a 3-1 lead.

“Bryant is really starting to come into his own,” said Golloway. “He takes two strikes (in the fourth) and hits the third one over the wall and that proved to be really big for us.”

After Missouri cut the lead to one run on Aaron Senne's RBI double in the fourth, the Sooners came right back to score three runs in the top of the fifth frame. The scoring began with a pair of one-out walks issued to Williams and Aaron Reza. Following Brandon Moss' strikeout, both runners scored on Aaron Baker's two-out double hit deep to the gap in left center. Aljay Davis followed with an infield single to plate Baker and give the Sooners a 6-2 advantage.

In the fifth, Missouri threatened with the bases loaded on two Sooner errors but Taylor battled out of the inning to preserve the lead. The Sooners, led by Taylor, avoided another bases-loaded opportunity for Missouri in the seventh.

“Getting out of the fifth inning was the key to the game ,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “I thought the game was on the line in the fifth inning and Heath Taylor did a great job of getting out of a jam.”

Hernandez tacked on one extra insurance run in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly to right field. Wednesday's performance marked the first multi-RBI game of Hernandez's career and his third multi-hit game.

May 23

Video Archive

Coach Golloway talks about Heath Taylor's relief effort

The Sooners' head coach discusses' Bryant Hernandez's HR

Stephan Holst (2-2) took the loss for Missouri after 3 2/3 innings. Holst was the first of four Tiger pitchers to take the mound as he surrendered three runs on eight hits.

The 2007 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship continues on Friday, May 25 when Oklahoma battles No. 3 seeded Oklahoma State at 7:30 p.m. Oklahoma State opened the tournament with a 3-1 loss to Baylor, the No. 6 seed, in the tournament's late game on Wednesday.

NOTES:
The last time OU won the opener of the Big 12 Championship was in 2002 during an 11-3 win over Oklahoma State ... Jackson Williams collected his 25th RBI in the last 18 games with a RBI double in the third inning ... With today's 3-for-5 performance today at the plate, Aaron Ivey has hit safely in 15 of the last 16 games ... The performance against Missouri was also Ivey's eighth multi-hit game during the last 16 games (collected five multi-hit games in 2007 prior to that span) ... With a two-run double in the fifth inning, Aaron Baker tied a true freshman record at Oklahoma for RBIs in a season with 49 ... Richard Park also drove in 49 runs as a true freshman in 1997 ... Joe Dunigan continues to increase his career high hitting streak, after hitting in his 13th consecutive game on Wednesday ... The Sooners recorded 13 hits to the Tigers' six on Wednesday to improve to 22-9 when connecting for 10 or more hits ... OU tied a season high with five errors in the contest, matching the performance on Feb. 4 against UTPA ... The Sooners also won that game, 6-5.

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