OU Rally Falls Short, Bears Advance

OKLAHOMA CITY -- One day after completing a five-run ninth inning victory against Oklahoma State, the OU baseball team's bid for another comeback fell short to Baylor, 7-6, on Saturday at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. The loss drops the Sooners' overall record to 34-24 and ends their Big 12 Championship run.

Baylor jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first four innings, but the Sooners chipped away and held the Bears scoreless for the final five innings. OU scored two runs each in the eighth and ninth innings, but fell one run short of advancing to its first Big 12 title game since 1997 by leaving the bases loaded in its final at-bat. Baylor improved to 34-24 with the win.

In the bottom of the ninth, Oklahoma trailed 7-4 and began the one-out rally with Cory Williamson's single to left field. Baylor's Nick Cassavechia, who recorded his 11th save, walked the next OU batter, Jackson Williams, and then surrendered a bunt single off the bat of Aaron Reza. With the bases loaded, Cassavechia struck out Aaron Baker, but walked Joseph Hughes and hit pinch hitter Jarod Freeman. The rally was halted after Cassavechia forced Mike Gosse into a fielder's choice to end the game.

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Kendal Volz recorded a Big 12 record 13 strikeouts to improve to 6-2. Volz allowed seven hits and two runs over seven innings of work. OU's Ryan Mottern (3-5) suffered the loss after he was unable to get out of the first inning. Mottern gave up two runs on two hits and three walks.

“Our guys are playing right now with a lot of heart, a lot of passion and they have really come together,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “The chemistry is exactly what you look for and it takes a while to get there. It's not easy to get to this point.

“I told them (after the game) I really hope and pray that they will get another opportunity to play because of their effort and the way they are playing right now.”

The Bears scoring started with Beamer Weems two-run single up the middle in the first, giving them a 2-0 lead. The Bears increased the lead to four on Tim Jackson's two-run single to left field in the third and took a 7-0 lead in the fourth on a wild pitch and error by the Sooners and off Matt Czimskey's two run homer over the left field fence.

Coming off two days rest, Heath Taylor came out of the Sooners bullpen to hold the Bears' offense at bay. Taylor relieved Jimmy Rollins (one run) and Nich Conaway (four runs) and lasted 3 1/3 innings before Chris Henry closed out the game with 1 2/3 innings of spotless relief. The Sooners' staff combined for nine strikeouts and were led by Conaway's four punch outs.

Despite the relief effort by the staff, the Sooners walked 12 batters and created an early deficit that the offense could not overcome in the end. Oklahoma outhit Baylor, 12-9, and was led by two-hit performances by Dunigan, Williams, Reza, Joseph Hughes and Aljay Davis.

The OU offense finally broke through Volz's stellar outing with Aaron Reza's RBI groundout in the sixth inning. The Sooners tacked on another run in the seventh and cut the lead down to 7-2 on Dunigan's run-scoring single through the right side of the infield.

The Sooners set up the ninth with a pair of runs in the eighth frame. Hughes' single to right-center field plated Reza, who began the inning with a single. The second run of the frame came home on a throwing error by Baylor third baseman, Raynor Campbell.

Baylor will play Texas A&M in Sunday's championship game, set for 1 p.m., for the Big 12 title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, the Sooners will await their postseason fate as the field of 64 will be revealed on Monday, May 28 at 11:30 a.m. (CT) on ESPN.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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