No. 16 Baseball Rallies Past UCLA

March 6, 2009

No. 16 OU 6, UCLA 5 | Box Score |

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UCLA	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	5	6	0
OU	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	X	6	10	0

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Doyle (2-1)	6.1	3	3	3	2	4
L - Novak (0-1)	0.1	1	1	1	0	0

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	TB
OU - Harughty	4	1	2	1	0	3
OU - Baker	3	1	2	1	1	5

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NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 16 Sooners came back from a 2-0 deficit against visiting UCLA and posted a 6-5 victory on Friday in the series opener in front of 1,116 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park. OU has won five of its last six contests to improve to 10-3 while UCLA dropped to 2-8 with five straight losses to ranked opponents.

“You have to tip your cap (to UCLA). (Rob) Rasmussen was very, very good,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “Baker hitting the home run really picked us up. Just to get one run across, even though we were still down, was a big pick me up for our dugout.”

Opposite Doyle, Rob Rasmussen held OU scoreless until the sixth and the Sooner bats tagged him for two runs before the UCLA bullpen took over.

Doyle lasted 6 1/3 innings and surrendered three runs before giving way to Chase Anderson and Ryan Duke, who recorded his first save of the season. Duke was perfect in his 1 1/3 innings of action, holding the Bruins to zero runs and zero hits while striking out two.

OU tied the game and eventually took the lead in the bottom of the sixth with six runs, three off the bat of Hernandez who belted Matt Grace's pitch over the fence in left-center field. The blast, Hernandez's third of the year, gave OU a 6-2 lead.

Baker (2-for-3, RBI) also homered to lead off the sixth inning and a wild pitch tied the game at two runs apiece. That led to Matt Harughty's RBI bunt single, his third successful squeeze of the season, which plated the go ahead run. The big inning marked the ninth time this season that OU batted through the lineup and the eighth time it plated five or more runs.

UCLA's Jason Novak received the loss after allowing the Sooners to take the lead in his 1/3 of an inning of work.

For the Sooners, Doyle struggled early with his control but battled back record his second victory of the season. The right-hander allowed a run in the first inning after hitting the first of seven Bruins on the day and gave up a RBI single by Gabe Cohen. Despite the free passes, Doyle struck out four and limited UCLA to three hits and paved the way for the Sooner bullpen to close out the game.

“What can you say? Are you going to have success when you hit seven guys, not very often,” added Golloway on Doyle's performance. “ He is a veteran guy and he was able to pitch around his mistakes today.”

Harughty (2-for-4, RBI) and Kaleb Herren (2-for-3) joined Baker and Hernandez to help pace the Sooners' offense which collected 10 hits on Friday, marking the 10th time this season they have posted double digit hits.

UCLA posted three runs combined in the seventh and eighth with a pair of home runs off Anderson, but the reliever held on to toss 1 1/3 inning before Duke posted his first career save.

Game two on Saturday with the Bruins is slated for a noon first pitch at L. Dale Mitchell Park. OU's Antwonie Hubbard (1-0, 4.50) will start on the mound opposite UCLA's Charles Brewer (0-1, 3.60).

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