OU Rallies in the Ninth to Top TCU

March 17, 2009

No. 13 Oklahoma 8, No. 14 TCU 7 | Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	4	8	16	0
TCU	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	2	0	7	14	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Duke (2-0)	2.0	2	1	1	1	1
L - Miller (0-1)	0.0	4	4	4	0	0
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Hernandez	5	1	3	1	0	0
TCU - Featherstone	5	2	5	0	0	0

Sooner Baseball Central

Main Page | Ticket Information | Webcasts

2009 OU Baseball Media Guide | 2009 Game Notes

Oklahoma Season Statistics | Big 12 Conference | NCAA

FORT WORTH, Texas. -- The No. 13 Sooners rallied for the 12th time this season to record an 8-7 victory over No. 14 TCU at Lupton Stadium on Tuesday.

Casey Johnson's sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning proved to be the difference as OU scored four runs in its final at-bat. Ryan Duke recorded his second win of the season, despite allowing one run over the final two innings and placing the game-tying run at second base in the bottom of the ninth. Duke is 2-0 on the season with three saves.

Oklahoma improved to 18-4 with the victory while TCU dropped to 11-5. The Sooners have won 13 of their last 15 games. Matt Harughty and Bryant Hernandez had three hits apiece and paced the Sooners' offense which had 16 hits in the ball game.

The Sooners entered the ninth down 7-4 but rallied with four runs in the final frame. OU loaded the bases to begin the frame with three straight singles by Jamie Johnson, Matt Harughty and Bryant Hernandez. The first run came across the plate after Aaron Baker was hit by a pitch and then J.T. Wise singled in the next two runs to tie the game before Johnson's sacrifice fly.

“I am really proud of these young men with the fight they showed tonight, especially in the ninth,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “This is a big win for us, not only because it is over a solid TCU team, but because we enter the start of Big 12 play this weekend. We have a huge challenge in front of us by opening conference play at Kansas State.”

For the first three innings, starting pitchers Michael Rocha and Steven Maxwell held the opposition scoreless until Maxwell threw a wild pitch to break the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth.

After the wild pitch, OU loaded the bases and extended the lead when freshman Cameron Seitzer doubled to center to bring in two runs. Maxwell lasted four innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and one walk.

TCU started its scoring in the bottom of the fourth as Taylor Featherston crossed the plate from third when Rocha tossed a wild pitch. In the bottom of the fifth, the Frogs brought the game within one run when Matt Carpenter hit a solo homer to right field.

After the homer, senior LHP C.J. Blue came in to relief Rocha and after a walk to Junior Matt Curry, junior Chase Anderson was brought in to finish the bottom of the fifth.

TCU tied the game up at three runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth with a play at the plate. Later in the inning, the Frogs extended their lead on a double from Carpenter, which scored two runs to make the score 5-3.

The Sooners battled back in the seventh when shortstop Bryant Hernandez doubled to center and brought around Jamie Johnson to make the score 5-4.

Next up, OU opens Big 12 play at Kansas State on Friday, March 20 for a three-game set in Manhattan, Kan.