Baker's Walk-Off HR Extends Season

June 1, 2008

Box Score: OU 11, Vanderbilt 10

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
VU	0	0	6	0	0	2	0	0	2	10	15	0
OU	1	0	0	0	4	0	4	0	2	11	12	0

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Rocha (4-3)	4.0	5	2	2	3	2
L - Brewer (4-3)	1.1	1	2	2	1	1
S - NA	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
VU - Robin	4	2	3	2	0	0
OU - Johnson	5	2	3	1	0	0

Game Notes
Aljay Davis has 22 hits during his career-high 16-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 24 of the last 25 games (38 hits) ... Aaron Baker's multi-hit streak continued on Sunday with his seventh straight outing with two or more hits ... Baker has 15 hits in the last seven games with nine RBIs ... With 12 hits on Sunday, OU has connected for 10 or more hits in each of the last four games and 12 of the last 16 ... OU is 68-59 lifetime in the NCAA Tournament in 31 appearances ... OU's double-play streak of nine games ended on Saturday but turned four on Sunday to give them 20 in the last 11 games ... The Sooners and Commodores have met on five occasions and OU leads the all-time series 3-2, including a 2-0 mark in the postseason after winning twice in the 2008 Tempe Regional.

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

TEMPE, Ariz. - Sophomore Aaron Baker sent his third home run, a two-run shot, of the 2008 Tempe Regional to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning on Sunday and gave OU an 11-10 victory over No. 22 Vanderbilt at Packard Stadium.

The win improved the Sooners' overall mark to 36-25-1 and will place them in the championship game (Sunday at 6 p.m. MST) against No. 4 Arizona State, where OU will have to defeat the Sun Devils twice to advance to the super regional round. The loss drops the Commodores to 41-22 overall and ends their season. The Sooners have appeared in the championship game of an NCAA Regional in each of their last three appearances (2005-Oxford, 2006-Norman).

"This club has showed the ability to comeback throughout the whole season and I couldn't be more proud of them today," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "These student-athletes have overcome so much adversity, especially at the end of the season, and showed tremendous character. And you have to tip your cap to Vanderbilit for playing what was a great postseason baseball game."

OU took a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the seventh with four runs scored in the frame, but were unable to hold on as Vanderbilt scored twice in the top of the ninth off Michael Rocha (4-3), who was solid in relief before surrendering the final two runs. But Oklahoma came back to rally for the 18th time this season and the 64th with Sunny Golloway at the helm in the bottom of the ninth with Baker's walk-off homer off Russell Brewer (4-3).

"I was just trying to extend the inning further for us and wait on a pitch to drive," said sophomore Aaron Baker. "I got a pitch to hit and I thought it was a line drive that was going to hit off the wall, but it ended up clearing the fence."

The Sooners got off to a good start as Chase Anderson worked a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first and the offense took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the frame. With two outs on the board, Casey Johnson extended his hitting streak to seven games after he sliced a double down the left-field line to bring home Aljay Davis from second base after he was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a balk by Vanderbilt starter Nick Christiani.

Anderson faced the minimum in the second inning and received the benefit of an OU double play, but the Commodores made short work of the hurler in the third frame. Vanderbilt batted around the lineup and scored six runs off seven hits, including three extra-base hits. Anderson's start, his first since March 18, ended after 2 2/3 innings and Ryan Mottern recorded the final out of the third inning.

Trailing 6-1, Matt Harughty began the Sooners' third inning with a single and later advanced into scoring position but was unable to come around to score as Christiani retired the remainder of the side in order.

Oklahoma finally capitalized in the fifth inning as the first two batters, Jarod Freeman and Bryant Hernandez, reached on walks issued by Christiani and scored on a groundout by Harughty and single to right off Jamie Johnson's bat. After Davis recorded the second out, OU continued to rally with Mike Gosse's single through the right side to place runners on first and second. That brought up Casey Johnson who delivered a double over the head of centerfielder David Macias to cut the lead to one, 6-5.

Arizona State battled right back in the top of the sixth and extended the lead to two runs off Mottern before the Sooners' third reliever, Michael Rocha, was able to keep the Sun Devils at bay with the third double play of the day turned by OU.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Sooners made their move and regained the lead for the first time since the first inning. OU sent all nine hitters to the plate in the frame and Matt Harughty began the rally after Mark Lamm hit him with a pitch. Three straight singles followed, including Davis' base knock to left field that extended his hitting streak to 16 games and plated Harughty to bring the score within two runs. With the bases loaded, the second pitcher of the inning, Richie Goodenow, retired Casey Johnson via the strikeout before allowing another RBI single, this time by Aaron Baker to narrow the gap to one run. Goodenow retired J.T. Wise with another strikeout before allowing the go-ahead runs to score on Jarod Freeman's single through the right side.

Vanderbilt battled back in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs off Rocha on a fielder's choice hit by Dominic de la Osa and a RBI single by Alex Feinberg.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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