No. 16 OU Rallies Past UCLA Again

March 7, 2009

No. 16 OU 7, UCLA 6 | Box Score |

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

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Seng (1-0)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0
L - Lafferty (0-1)	0.0	1	2	2	1	0
S - Duke (2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	TB
OU - Buechele	3	1	2	2	1	2
UCLA - Uribe	3	1	2	3	0	3

GAME NOTES:
Bryant Hernandez was one of three Sooners to turn in a multiple-hit performance on Saturday ... Hernandez (2-for-4) was joined by Buechele (2-for-3, 2 RBI) and J.T. Wise (2-for-3, RBI) and he has hit safely in all but one game this season ... In addition, Hernandez has nine multi-hit games on the season, a team best ... Antwonie Hubbard was one shy of his career best eight strikeouts recorded a season ago against Southern Nazarene ... Ryan Duke entered 2009 with zero career saves ... He has two in the last two days ... Aaron Baker extended his hitting streak to seven games with his double in the eighth ... Baker is 9-for-15 in his career with the bases loaded after that extra-base hit ... He entered Saturday's action 0-for-0 in that situation this season.

Sooner Baseball Central

Main Page | Ticket Information | Webcasts

2009 OU Baseball Media Guide | 2009 Game Notes

Oklahoma Season Statistics | Big 12 Conference | NCAA

NORMAN, Okla. -- Another day, another rally. The No. 16 University of Oklahoma baseball team posted another comeback victory over UCLA on Saturday, a 7-6 decision in front of 1,034 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Sooners plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth and Ryan Duke earned his second save in as many days after pitching a perfect ninth.

Aaron Baker and Garrett Buechele provided the big hits in the eighth inning. Baker's RBI double down the right-field line made it 6-5 and Buechele's two-run single gave OU the lead for good.

The win was the Sooners' fourth consecutive and the 11th of the season in 14 games played. UCLA dropped to 2-9.

Saturday's win comes a day after OU posted another come-from-behind win over UCLA. On Friday, the Sooners trailed 2-0, but scored six times in their at-bat in the sixth to claim a 6-5 victory.

"It was a good win. The guys hung in there and fought hard," said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. "There are some things we wish we would have executed better in the top of the eighth, but to see our guys respond in the bottom of the eighth was real big."

Oklahoma led 3-2 after seven innings of action, but UCLA batted through its lineup in the eighth and tagged the Sooners' bullpen for five runs after Antwonie Hubbard turned in a stellar start on the mound. Hubbard tossed six innings, allowed one run off two hits and struck out seven Bruins.

The Sooners' offense built a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Aaron Baker led off the frame with a walk and moved quickly to second on Garrett Buechele's sacrifice bunt. Baker came around to score on Cameron Seitzer's RBI single to right center field. After a J.T. Wise double to left field, Chris Ellison's plated the Sooners' second run of the frame on a sacrifice squeeze.

In the top of the sixth, the Bruins cut the Sooners' lead in half on pinch hitter Justin Uribe's RBI double. Hubbard finished the frame and was relieved by Jason Chowning.

In the seventh, the Bruins placed runners on second and third with one out, but Chowning recorded two straight outs to thwart the rally attempt. Later in the frame, the Sooners gave Chowning an insurance run in the bottom half of the seventh on J.T. Wise's single that brought around Buechele.

UCLA finally broke through in the eighth inning. Chowning put the first two batters on base to begin the frame before J.R. Robinson entered the game. Robinson was unable to hold the lead as UCLA tied the ball game at three runs apiece on Uribe's two-run single. The Bruins scored three more runs in the big inning as Kaleb Herren could not shut down the Bruins after Robinson.

Tyson Seng recorded the final out of the eighth to record the win and improve to 1-0 in 2009. Duke followed up Seng and was highly effective for the second straight game.

UCLA's Brendan Lafferty took the loss after giving up the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning. Lafferty did not record an out and was charged with two runs off one hit and a walk.

The third and final game of the series is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The game will be broadcast on Oklahoma All-Access, SoonerSports.com's premium site. Live video and audio will be provided for the series finale.

Next Event

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics