OU Sweeps Aggies, Finishes Second

May 17, 2009

OU 6, Texas A&M 5 | Box Score |

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

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Richards (8-3)	6.0	5	2	2	3	11
L - Loux (3-3)	1.1	5	3	1	1	0
S - Duke (14)	1.0	2	2	2	1	1

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

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NORMAN, Okla. -- Garrett Richards struck out a career high 11 batters and No. 13 Oklahoma edged No. 16 Texas A&M, 6-5, on Sunday in front of 1,385 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The win completes the series sweep for OU (40-16 overall, 17-10 Big 12), a first against Texas A&M (34-21,14-13) since 2000, and gives the Sooners 40 wins during the regular season. The win total is a program best the in Big 12 era for Oklahoma, which last won that many games during the 1989 slate (42-15).

“I thought the guys really played well this weekend,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “I think the way Garrett Richards threw today in game three, and Michael Rocha in game two, is a huge shot in the arm.”

OU received another strong performance out of the starting rotation as Richards won his eighth game of the year after he allowed two runs off five hits in six innings of work.

The Sooners' bullpen followed with six strikeouts to help nail down the win. Ryan Duke recorded his Big 12 leading 14th save of the season, the second most by an OU reliever since Bucky Buckles had 14 during the 1994 National Championship run, while striking out two batters.

The Sooners scored first for the third time in the series on Jamie Johnson's RBI single in the second inning. Two more OU runs crossed the plate in the frame thanks to a throwing error by Caleb Shofner. The third baseman tried to stop Chris Ellison from scoring from third on a fielder's choice hit by Matt Harughty, but the throw went high and to the back stop.

“I think it helps our pitchers an awful lot,” said Golloway about OU's offense scoring first throughout the weekend. “I think Garrett Richards was a guy that got to feed off having an early lead and not worry so much about making the perfect pitch.”

In the bottom of the fourth, OU took a 4-0 lead on Matt Harughty's RBI groundout, which scored Ross Hubbard, who doubled to lead off the frame and advanced to third on a passed ball.

Richards battled out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and struck out Luke Anders for the third time to end the frame.

“My job is to give us a chance to win and get us off to a good start,” said Richards.

Texas A&M battled back cut the lead in half in the sixth as Richards surrendered a leadoff home run to Kyle Colligan. The Aggies second run came around on two wild pitches as Richards finished off the frame with a pair of strikeouts.

Oklahoma countered and took a three-run lead in the bottom half of the sixth and benefitted from another Texas A&M error. Chris Ellison scored all the way from first base on Jamie Johnson's single up the middle and an error by Colligan in centerfield.

The teams exchanged single runs in the eighth inning before the Aggies made things interesting with two runs off Anders' two-run blast in the top of the ninth off Duke.

Texas A&M's Barrett Loux (3-3) suffered the loss despite giving up three runs, one earned, in 1 1/3 innings.

Both teams entered the series with a chance to finish second in the Big 12 standings and position itself as a NCAA Regional host. In 2006, OU finished third in the standings with a 17-10 mark the last time it hosted a regional in Norman. The last time OU finished second in the standings was in 2004, when it also finished a half game behind Texas and hosted a NCAA Regional.

“That is out of our hands,” added Golloway when talking about hosting a NCAA Regional. “What we control is playing well in the Big 12 on Wednesday.”

The Sooners will meet the conference's No. 7 seed, Texas Tech, in their first game of pool play in the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

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