OU Cruises 12-4, Wins Baylor Series

April 25, 2009

No. 13 OU 12, No. 9 Baylor 4 | Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	0	3	2	2	2	3	0	0	12	14	1
BU	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	4	5	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Richards (6-1)	6.0	5	4	4	3	7
L - Miller (3-2)	4.0	7	5	5	1	6
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - J. Johnson	5	2	3	3	0	1
OU - Wise	4	2	3	1	0	1

GAME NOTES
The Sooners have won four out of the six Big 12 series openers in 2009 with five series wins (OU was 2-7 in 2008 series openers) ... Aaron Baker and J.T. Wise hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning, marking the fourth time this year that OU has connected for consecutive homers in an inning, all in Big 12 play (March 22 vs. Kansas State, Casey and Jamie Johnson in fifth inning; March 29 vs. Nebraska, J.T. Wise and Garrett Buechele in second inning; March 30 vs. Nebraska, Matt Harughty and Bryant Hernandez in fourth inning) ... Oklahoma has 69 homers this season and has cleared the fences in 16 of the last 20 games with 44 in that span ... OU has multiple homers in 14 games in 2009, including seven in Big 12 play ... In addition, eight of those 14 games included three or more homers ... OU has hit 39 homers in Big 12 play ... Saturday's offensive output is the most runs OU has scored in Waco since the 1999 series finale (15-11) that featured five homers, a record high by a Baylor opponent... The Sooners have posted double-digit hits in all but 18 games this season and own a 22-3 ... OU is 16-0 when scoring 10 or more runs in 2009 ... OU has scored first in 12 of the last 16 games, including 11 of the 17 Big 12 contests ... The Sooners are 20-6 this season when tallying the game's first score.

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WACO, Texas -- No. 13 Oklahoma (32-11 overall, 10-7 Big 12) connected for four home runs on Saturday en route to a 12-4 victory over No. 9 Baylor (25-16, 10-9). The victory clinched the Sooners' first Big 12 series win at Waco and came one day after winning their first series opener at Baylor Ballpark since 1997.

OU took an early 3-0 lead and scored five straight innings, highlighted by nine two-out RBIs. Jamie Johnson (HR, 2B, 3B, 3 RBIs) and J.T. Wise (HR, RBI) led the offensive charge with three hits each behind Garrett Richards' (6-1) six-inning start.

“I thought we played well in all aspects in the game,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “Offensively, we continued to move the runner up in scoring position and put pressure on them. That has to be our offense, not just living or dying by the long ball but putting pressure on their defense and pitchers at all time.”

The Sooners also received a quality start from Richards and three perfect innings from the bullpen.

“All our guys threw well,” said Golloway. “I thought Garrett did a good job of battling and controlling the things he could control. He got out of jams when he needed to.”

Richards struck out seven Bears and allowed four runs on five hits and three walks. His opposition, Aaron Miller, dropped to 3-2 after getting chased in the fourth inning. Miller gave up five earned runs off seven hits and struck out six before Baylor reliever Logan Verrett got tagged for seven runs off seven hits.

OU struck first on Saturday with a pair of two-out home runs in the top of the third inning. Aaron Baker started the scoring with his 11th of the season and drove in Bryant Hernandez on the two-run shot over the batter's eye in center field. J.T. Wise followed with his 13th of the season on a ball hit deep over the fence in left-center field.

Down 3-0, the Bears quickly countered and cut the lead down to one in the bottom of the third off Richards. However, the Sooners' offense struck again with two outs in the top of the fourth and regained their three-run advantage.

In the Sooners' fourth, Chris Ellison singled to left field and came around to score on Matt Harughty's double down the left-field line. Johnson followed with a double off the wall in center field to plate Harughty and give OU a 5-2 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Ellison drove in the Sooners' sixth and seventh RBIs of the day with two outs on a double up the middle. Wise and Buechele scored to give OU a 7-2 lead.

Garrett Richards surrendered the Bears' third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth on a hard hit ball by Shaver Hansen that bounced out of the glove of a diving Harughty at second base. Despite the run, Richards battled out of the inning with three strikeouts, including an inning-ending strikeout of Miller with runners on first and second.

Once again, OU countered Baylor's scoring with two more runs in the sixth inning, thanks to Bryant Hernandez's eighth home run of the season. The dinger to left-center scored Jamie Johnson from third, who led off the frame with a triple to center. Johnson hit a homer of his own, his 10th on the season, in the eighth inning. The two-run blast put the game out of reach and paved the way for the Sooner bullpen to finish off Richards' strong start.

Chase Anderson's tossed two perfect innings, that featured four strikeouts, and Michael Rocha's pitched a perfect ninth inning to give Richards his first win in Big 12 play during a start.

Sunday's finale is set for a 1:30 p.m. first pitch and will be broadcast live on the Sooner Sports Network with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play on KOKC 1520 AM. The game will be joined in progress following OU softball's contest at Missouri.

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