Sooners' Late Rallies Not Enough

May 24, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	0	3	10	12	2
UT	2	0	2	2	0	0	1	1	3	11	14	2

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Shinnabery (2-1)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1
L - Anderson (5-4)	0.2	2	1	1	0	1
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
UT - Belt	4	1	3	3	1	0
OU - Baker	4	1	2	2	0	0

Game Notes
Aljay Davis' career high hitting streak reached 13 games after he singled in the third inning ... Davis has hit safely in 21 of the last 22 games with 34 hits ... Tyson Seng entered Saturday's game with 6 1/3 innings of relief in five outings and tossed a career-high four innings against the Longhorns ... The Sooners are 1-4 lifetime in the Big 12 Championship against Texas and has lost four straight against the Longhorns. OU is 21-20 overall in the Big 12 Championship and 5-4 in pool play since it originated in 2006 ... For the second consecutive season, Oklahoma lost a one-run ball game that would have sent them to the conference title game.

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Sooners rallied twice in the final three innings and held a 10-8 advantage before Texas scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to claim an 11-10 victory in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Saturday in front of 7,190 fans at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

Ahead 10-8 in the ninth, OU's Jake McCarter took the mound in the bottom of the frame in search of his 10th save of the season but walked the first two batters and was quickly relieved by Chase Anderson (5-3), who retired the first batter on a foul out. But Brandon Belt connected in the next at-bat to cut the lead to one before Anderson recorded the second out on a called strikeout. Anderson worked an 0-2 count on David Hernandez but the second strike was found the back stop and scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Hernandez then sent Anderson's next offering to the gap in left-center field to close out the game.

The loss drops OU to 34-24-1 on the season and ends the Sooners' bid for a Big 12 Championship and a berth in next week's NCAA Tournament. Texas improved to 36-20 and will advance to tomorrow's title game with a Missouri loss to Texas A&M.

Trailing 6-1 after the first six innings, the Sooner offense exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh, keyed by Jarod Freeman's three-run triple.

Texas quickly took back the lead and was ahead 8-7 before OU rallied again with two runs in the top of the ninth. The Sooners loaded the bases in the frame and scored on Aaron Baker's fielder's choice and after Aljay Davis was hit by a pitch.

"It was a hard-fought contest that didn't come out the way we would have liked it to," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "But to come back from the deficit we had and take the lead was remarkable. It showed a lot of character. You kind of had a feeling there late in the ball game that whoever was up to bat last was going to have the best opportunity to win, and that's how it ended up. Our road stops here and we will reload and look to next year."

Baker, Casey Johnson and Bryant Hernandez led the Sooner offense with two hits apiece and represented half of the club's 12 hits on the afternoon.

Texas jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after the first batter, Michael Torres, reached on an error by Mike Gosse at second. Jordan Danks followed with a run-scoring double off OU starter Michael Rocha and later scored after a ground out moved him to third and a single by Russell Moldenhauer.

In the bottom of the third, the Longhorns extended their lead to 4-0 on a pair of RBI doubles off the bats of Moldenhauer and Preston Clark. The latter ended the start for Rocha who lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits and a walk.

With runners on second and third and Rocha out of the game, Jeremy Erben induced a ground out to halt the scoring and end the third inning.

After failing to bring around Aljay Davis in the first inning from second base, OU plated its first run in the top of the fourth on Bryant Hernandez's ground out to first with the bases loaded. A walk issued to Matt Harughty reloaded the bases but Jamie Johnson was unable to connect off Texas starter Kenn Kasparek.

The Longhorns came back in the bottom of the fourth and chased Erben on Travis Tucker's first homer of the season, a two-run shot to left field that gave them a 6-1 lead. Tyson Seng was the third OU pitcher used and he helped limit the damage and recorded all three outs in the fourth.

Oklahoma took its first lead of the game in the top of the seventh with six runs and chased Kasparek after he allowed the first three hitters to reach with singles by Bryant Hernandez and Jamie Johnson and a walk to Matt Harughty. After Aljay Davis walked to cut the lead to four, UT reliever recorded two outs but not before bringing home a run on a wild pitch and giving up another walk to Casey Johnson. That brought up Freeman who delivered a bases-clearing triple, the first of his career, down the right-field line to tie the game at six runs apiece. Baker, the next batter, brought home Freeman on a single up the middle.

The OU lead was short lived as Texas tied the game at seven runs apiece in the bottom of the seventh inning and then regained the advantage in the bottom of the eighth on Travis Tucker's RBI single. The go-head run was made possible after Cameron Rupp, who walked with one out, reached third on a failed pick-off attempt by Tyson Seng.

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