Huskers Drop OU, 11-9, in Game Two

March 29, 2009

Nebraska 11, No. 10 Oklahoma 9 | Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NU	0	2	0	3	3	2	0	1	0	11	18	0
OU	1	2	0	0	2	0	3	1	0	9	13	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Roualdes (4-1)	5.0	6	5	5	5	2
L - Rocha (4-2)	3.2	9	5	5	0	0
S - Nesseth (2)	2.2	4	2	2	2	5

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Hernandez	4	0	3	3	0	0
NU - Farst	5	2	4	3	0	0

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NORMAN, Okla. -- Nebraska hung on for an 11-9 victory in the second game of the series with No. 10 Oklahoma on Sunday. The loss was the Sooners' first at home this season and snapped a 16-game winning streak dating back to last season.

OU won the first game of Sunday's doubleheader, 12-9, after the series was pushed back two days due to inclement weather in the area on Friday and Saturday.

The Sooners dropped to 22-6 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play despite loading the bases in the ninth. Nebraska's Mike Nesseth (2) earned the save after battling out of trouble in the final frame and recording three strikeouts. The Huskers improved to 16-9-1 and 4-4.

Michael Rocha took the loss for OU and did not make it past the fourth inning. In 3 2/3 innings of work, Rocha (4-2) allowed five run off nine hits. The Sooners' bullpen had trouble as well with Tyson Seng surrendering three runs in his one inning and C.J. Blue gave up three runs, one earned, in 2 2/3.

“We needed someone to stabilize the game and we didn't get that until (Jarrett) Semler did that late and kept us in it to the end,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway about the pitchers' performances in game two. “Offensively, our bats did a good job and fought hard, but we just couldn't get that last hit in the ninth.”

Jarrett Semler pitched the final five outs and gave up one hit for the Sooners while Jordan Roualdes (4-1) lasted five innings in his start to help Nebraska even the series at one game apiece.

OU's offense continued its torrid trend in game two of the doubleheader with 13 hits, but Nebraska countered with 18 base knocks. Matt Harughty and Bryant Hernandez led the Sooners with three hits apiece.

In the bottom of the first, Oklahoma jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Hernandez's team-leading 34th RBI of the season, a single to left-center that plated Harughty. Hernandez has been OU's offensive leader for most of the season and entered the 2009 season with 19 career runs driven in. The single was the first of three runs he would drive in during the game.

After the Huskers took a 2-1 lead in the second frame, the Sooners quickly countered with a pair of runs in the bottom half. J.T. Wise and Garrett Buechele hit a pair of solo home runs to begin the inning, marking the first back-to-back homers for the Sooners since 2006.

Both teams were scoreless in the third inning, but Nebraska regained the lead and equaled OU's offensive display in the second with its own back-to-back homers, the first which was a two-run shot by Cody Asche. Another single by the Huskers ended Michael Rocha's start.

Ahead 5-3, Nebraska extended its lead with three more runs in fifth inning off reliever Tyson Seng. The Huskers connected for five hits in the fifth before C.J. Blue entered the game. The lefty allowed two unearned runs after an error by Matt Harughty prolonged the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, OU cut the lead down to two runs at 10-8. Casey Johnson drove in two of those runs off his triple down the right-field line. Hernandez drove in the other collected his third hit of the game, a single to left, and third RBI. The base knock capped a 5-for-8 day for Hernandez, who also drove in six runs during the doubleheader, while extending his hitting streak to 10 games.

The teams exchanged runs in the eighth. In the bottom half of that frame, OU had runners on second and third with one out, but an Aaron Baker sacrifice fly was all the Sooners could muster.

The series finale against Nebraska is slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch on Monday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.