Sooners Fall 7-2 to No. 15 Rice

Feb. 29, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Rice	0	0	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	7	12	0
OU	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	3

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Berry (1-0)	6.2	5	2	2	3	8
L - Doyle (1-1)	6.2	10	5	3	3	3

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
Rice - Mozingo	4	3	3	1	1	0
OU - C. Johnson	2	0	1	1	2	1

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

HOUSTON, Texas -- The Sooners' (3-2) three-game winning streak was snapped on Friday by No. 15 (Baseball America) Rice (4-2). The Owls increased their winning streak to four games with a 7-2 victory over OU on Friday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Rice entered the game ranked as high as No. 9 in the NCBWA and showed why it was a top five preseason team in the coaches' poll by out hitting the Sooners 12-5.

The Owls' three-run third inning was the difference in the game and ultimately handed sophomore Andrew Doyle (1-1) his first loss of the year in his first collegiate start.

In the Rice third, Doyle and the Sooners surrendered three runs, one unearned. With two outs, the Owls placed runners on first and second and Chad Mozingo plated both runs thanks to a single to right field and a throwing error by freshman Casey Johnson. Rice tacked on another run in the frame to take a 3-0 lead on an infield single off the bat of Diego Seastrunck.

Rice increased its lead to four runs in the fourth inning and after the bottom half of the inning, the OU offense was unable to mount a threat from there on.

"It's no secret that we didn't put forth our best effort today," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "We have a young team but that can't be used as an excuse. Rice is a very good team and we had their starter (Ryan Berry) on the ropes. And when you have a quality pitcher in trouble like we did in the fourth, and you don't take advantage of it, your chances of winning the game aren't good."

The Sooners had the opportunity to break through in the fourth inning and did score on Berry and the Owls.

With one out, sophomore Spencer Selby started things off with a single through the left side of the infield and was followed by singles off the bats of juniors J.T. Wise and Matt Harughty to load the bases.

Freshman Casey Johnson, who finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and two walks, plated OU's first run in the fourth off a walk issued by Berry. A wild pitch on a strikeout to pinch hitter Mike Gosse scored the Sooners' second run and cut the lead in half. However, OU squandered the opportunity to tie the ball game or take the lead and stranded two bases runners to end the frame.

Rice got back one run in the fifth to regain a three-run lead as Berry cruised to his first victory of the season. The right-hander finished with eight strikeouts and three walks in 6 2/3 innings pitched

Doyle was steady in his first collegiate start. The sophomore also finished with 6 2/3 innings to match Berry, but gave up three earned runs on 10 hits and three walks.

Next up, the Sooners will face Houston at noon on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on the internet on Oklahoma All-Access. The paid site is available on SoonerSports.com.

OU will conclude the tournament on Sunday at 11 a.m. against Tennessee. The Sooners and Volunteers have not faced each other since the 1951 season, when OU claimed its first national title with a 3-2 win in the title game over Tennessee.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors