Sooners Edge Bears in Ninth Inning

April 24, 2009

No. 13 OU 4, No. 9 Baylor 2 | Box Score

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

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Doyle (6-3)	8.0	6	2	2	0	6
L - Volz (3-4)	9.0	7	4	3	10	2
S - Duke (9)	1.0	2	0	0	1	2

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Hernandez	4	1	2	2	0	1
BU - Evatt	4	0	2	1	0	0

GAME NOTES
OU has scored first in 11 of the last 15 games, including 10 of the 16 Big 12 contests ... The Sooners are 19-6 this season when tallying the game's first score ... Bryant Hernandez hit his seventh home run of the season in the first inning and first since March 30 vs. Nebraska ... The longball marked the 65th of the season for Oklahoma, which has homered in 15 of the last 19 games with 40 in that span ... Andrew Doyle lasted eight innings on Friday and has tossed at least five innings in each of his last 12 starts dating back to last season ... In his 25 career starts, Doyle has failed to reach the fifth inning on just three occasions ... The last time OU won a series opener in Waco was 1997 ... 27 of the 37 Big 12 games between OU and Baylor have been decided by three runs or less.

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WACO, Texas -- The No. 13 Sooners scored two runs in the top of the ninth to post a 4-2 win in Friday's Big 12 series opener at No. 9 Baylor.

Jamie Johnson came up to the plate in the ninth with the bases loaded and two outs and, despite swinging at strike three, reached first base on a pitch in the dirt that allowed the game-winning runs to score.

The wild pitch by Kendal Volz, who dropped to 3-4 in his first career complete game, was accompanied by an error by catcher Gregg Glime to allow the second run to score. However, the Sooners' speed on the bases provided the victory as Johnson beat out the throw to first and head's up base running by Garrett Buechele, who came around to score from second base behind J.T. Wise, gave OU a 4-2 lead.

“It comes down to fundamentals and we continue to stress that to our guys,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “Our guys are mentally tough and hung in there tonight. Even though Jamie struck out, he is hustling down the line, so he did something right there.”

The win improved OU to 31-11 overall and, more importantly, snapped a four-game losing streak in Big 12 play. OU entered Friday tied for fourth place behind Baylor (25-15, 10-8), but now sits in a tie for third place at 9-7 with Kansas State.

“I hate to tell the team that this is a must win (before the game), and we didn't, we said it was a must series,” added Golloway. “If you want to win the conference or host a regional, you got to go win the series. We got off to a good start tonight behind Andrew's (Doyle) performance. I thought both guys (Doyle and Volz) pitched their tail ends off.”

Volz finished with 10 strikeouts but Doyle was just as impressive and improved to 6-3 after eight solid innings. Doyle struck out six and did not walk a batter before allowing Ryan Duke to close out the game. Duke's ninth save of the season did not come easy as the Bears loaded the bases in the ninth, but OU's closer struck out his second batter of the night to end the game.

“I just wanted to go out and get the team off to a good start,” said Doyle. “I was just trying to pitch my game and use my defense as much as possible. And I did that today in the first four or five innings. Hats off to Kendal Volz, he matched me pitch for pitch and it was a fun game.”

Despite allowing two hits and walking a batter, Duke battled through and made a key play with runners on first and second and zero outs in the ninth. While Raynor Campbell attempted to advance the runners on a sacrifice bunt, Duke stepped up and forced out the lead runner at third.

“That was a key play in the game,” said Golloway.

Bryant Hernandez (2-for-4) gave the Sooners an early 2-0 lead in the first lead after depositing Volz's offering deep to center field and over the batter's eye. Hernandez's seventh homer of the season plated Jamie Johnson, who doubled to lead off the game.

Baylor cut into the lead in the bottom of the fourth after being limited to one hit in the first three frames by Doyle. With one out and runners on first and third, Dan Evatt grounded out to short but it was enough to plate Shaver Hansen from third.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Bears tied the score at two runs apiece on Gregg Glime's first home run of the season.

Game two on Saturday at 1 p.m. will be broadcast on the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC 1520 AM) and televised on Fox Sports Southwest.