Baseball Wins 3-2, Locks Up Series

March 29, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H
BU	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	7
OU	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	1	3	9

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Duke (4-2)	1.2	0	0	0	0	3
L - Thurman (2-1)	0.1	1	1	1	1	0
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	2B
BU - Dickerson	3	1	3	0	1	2
OU - Gosse	5	0	3	0	0	1

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- The OU baseball team wrapped up a series victory on Saturday at L. Dale Mitchell Park with a 3-2 extra-inning
win over No. 20 Baylor in game two of the three-game set. The Sooners received a one-out single in the tenth inning off the bat of J.T. Wise to plate the decisive run and clinch the series heading into tomorrow's finale.

After a scoreless first inning, the Sooners trailed 2-0 after four innings and 2-1 after eight, but tied the game in the ninth inning when Jamie Johnson sent his second homer of the year just over the fence in left field. Johnson's round tripper tied the game at two and set the stage for extra innings, where OU improved to 3-0-1 this season and 11-0-1 overall under head coach Sunny Golloway.

"Well played ball game and I want to compliment Baylor," said Golloway. "You look at the scoreboard and they have seven hits and no errors and the game goes extra innings. I really feel that being at home was the difference. We lost in the ninth inning twice to Nebraska last weekend and I thought the home-field advantage gives them a little edge and the edge came to us today."

The Sooners' offense struggled at times on Saturday after Friday night's impressive 11-2 win in the series opener, but still had nine hits to Baylor's seven and received multi-hit games from Mike Gosse (3-for-5) and Johnson (2-for-4). In addition, OU was 7-for-10 on Friday with runners in scoring position, but Wise's single in the 10th was the first such hit of the day in seven opportunities.

Saturday's win improved OU's record to 20-7-1 overall and 2-2-1 in Big 12 play. Baylor dropped to 15-9 overall and 2-6 in conference action.

"Five games into Big 12 play, we lost two on the road and tied one at Nebraska and that was a tough place to open up (Big 12 play)," added Golloway. "So to come back and get a couple of wins is big for us. We have had outstanding effort all the way around, especially our pitching."

Baylor struck first on Saturday in the second inning with a pair of RBI ground outs by Ben Booker and Gregg Glime. Down 2-0, OU starter Andrew Doyle settled down to hold the Bears scoreless for his final six innings. Doyle finished the game with eight innings pitched and two runs allowed off seven hits and one walk.

Doyle also struck out three batters and his counterpart, Shawn Tolleson, was equally impressive. Tolleson lasted 8 1/3 innings and also surrendered two runs off seven hits.

Mark Guest relieved Doyle in the ninth and retired the only batter he faced, but not without some defensive help from left fielder Spencer Selby in the top of the ninth. Baylor begin the frame with a leadoff double by Dustin Dickerson off Doyle and then Raynor Campbell's drove a ball down the left-field line that was tracked down by a diving Selby to prevent the go-ahead run.

OU then turned to reliever Ryan Duke (4-2) and he finished things off with a spotless 1 2/3 innings of relief with three batters retired via the strikeout.

Before the dramatic finish, Tyson Seng narrowed the Baylor lead to one run with his second home run of the season in the bottom of the fifth.

In the Sooners' tenth inning, Gosse led off the frame with his third hit of the game, a double to right field off the glove of a diving Aaron Miller. Gosse then moved to third on Aljay Davis' sacrifice bunt and following an intentional walk to Aaron Baker, Wise belted a single down the line past third baseman Shaver Hansen. Baylor's Mace Thurman (2-1) took the loss after giving up the leadoff double to Gosse.

The three-game series continues on Sunday at 1 p.m. and will feature OU's Michael Rocha (2-0, 3.94 ERA) against BU's Willie Kempf (3-1, 3.62 ERA). The game can be heard live on the Sooners' flagship station, KOKC 1520 AM, and across the Sooner Sports Network with Chuck Kelly and DeWayne Vaughn providing the on-air talent.

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