Baseball Falls in Finale at Missouri

April 5, 2009

Missouri 5, No. 10 OU 4 | Box Score

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

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Tepesch (2-1)	6.0	6	4	4	3	9
L - Hubbard (1-1)	1.2	5	5	1	1	3
S - Buehler (3)	1.0	0	0	0	1	0

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Ellison	2	1	2	2	0	1
MU - Folgia	4	0	3	1	0	0

GAME NOTES
Chris Ellison's home run in the third inning was the 21st this year by a Sooner with two outs on the board ... OU recorded its 12th multi-home run game of the season and six in Big 12 play ... OU has a Big 12 leading 57 dingers this season ... Tyler Ogle is 4-for-7 in pinch hitting situations after his RBI single in the seventh ... Jeremy Erben made his first appearance on the mound this season and the first since June 1, 2008 against Arizona State in the final game of the NCAA Tempe Regional ... Garrett Buechele hit safely in his 12th straight game, a career high ... Casey Johnson extended his hitting streak to nine games ... OU has converted at least one double play in eight of last 10 games ... OU entered Sunday's finale with a 6-0 record in one-run games this season.

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COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The No. 10 University of Oklahoma baseball team dropped the finale of a three-game set at Missouri on Sunday, 5-4, after winning the first two games of the series on Friday and Saturday.

The Sooners, 25-7 overall and 6-3 in Big 12 play, mounted a rally after falling behind 5-0 to the Tigers (15-16, 5-7) in the second inning. OU put Matt Harughty in scoring position in the top of the ninth after a sacrifice bunt by Kaleb Herren, but Jaime Johnson lined into a game-ending double play.

“We had one bad inning that we couldn't come back from today and that was the most disappointing thing,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “We had an opportunity to finish them off but the hole was too big to come out of. I think today proved how hard it can be to sweep a Big 12 series on the road. However, we still accomplished our goal this weekend and that was to win the series.”

OU has won the first three conference series of 2009 and sit in first place ahead of Texas A&M and Baylor at 7-5. The last time OU began a season with three straight conference series wins was in 1996, one year before the Big 12 was formed.

Antwonie Hubbard made his last start on March 14 at South Florida and was unable to get out of trouble in the second inning. The hurler battled out of a jam in the first inning but the Tigers scored five runs, only one earned, in the second. Stephen Porlier took over to record the final out of the inning in his second relief outing of the season.

Porlier tossed 4 1/3 innings of shutout baseball and allowed two hits and two walks while striking out four batters.

Chris Ellison (2-for-2, two RBIs) helped OU get one of the five runs back as he homered to right-center field with two outs on the board in the top of the third. The home run was the first of the year for Ellison and the 56th this season by Oklahoma.

In the top of the fifth, Ellison and the Sooners again chipped away at the 5-1 lead. After Cameron Seitzer was issued a one-out walk, Harughty singled to left-center field and Ellison followed with a RBI single up the middle.

Another Sooner home run, a leadoff shot by Garrett Buechele, in the seventh cut the lead to two runs at 5-3. Three batters later, pinch hitter Tyler Ogle connected with a RBI single to bring OU within one run.

In the bottom of the seventh, Porlier left the game and C.J. Blue started the frame for the Sooners. Blue worked himself into a bases loaded situation and turned the ball over to Jeremy Erben with one out on the board. Making his first appearance since the final game of 2008, Erben delivered and forced Kyle Mach to ground into a double play. Erben did not allow a run or hit in 1 2/3 innings of work.

“We had three pitchers that all came back from injury today,” added Golloway. “Antwonie was rusty but I thought Stephen pitched strong and Jeremy looked good. Those three all have the ability to be key contributors for us as the season rolls on.”

The Sooners return to action with a midweek game at Wichita State on Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. before returning home to host Texas Tech over the weekend.

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