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Baseball
vs Fall World Series
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sunday, May 31
Norman
1:00 PM
University of Oklahoma
7
vs
2
Washington State
Baker Blasts OU Into Championship
May 31, 2009 | Baseball
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NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 9 Oklahoma advanced to the championship game of the Norman Regional with its 7-2 win over No. 24 Washington State Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The Sooners meet No. 21 Arkansas at 7 p.m. tonight. Tickets are still available at the ballpark's box office.
Aaron Baker's first career grand slam sealed the game for the Sooners in a five-run seventh inning. The clutch homer came after J.T. Wise drove in the go-ahead run on a RBI single through the left side of the infield.
Baker blasted left-hander Adam Conley's first and only pitch of the game over the left field fence, plating the three Sooners that Washington State starter David Stilley and reliever Connor Lambert allowed to reach base.
“I think, going in, we talked to our club this morning about how hard we have worked to get to this point,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “We reflected a little bit about our 2006 club that came through the loser's bracket here in the same way at L. Dale Mitchell. We really challenged our guys about what we invested in this season and now is the time."
Oklahoma wasted no time in taking the game's first lead on Bryant Hernandez's two-run homer, his 12th of the year, in the bottom of the first inning.
Garrett Richards earned his ninth win of the season after pitching a complete game. Richards' 10 strikeouts were one shy of a career best, but came in the longest outing of his career and first complete game.
“Garrett was terrific,” added Golloway. “We taxed our bullpen to the kitchen sink last night and we wanted to be able to go with him as long as we could. One thing we talked about was not relinquishing the lead. Let's get the lead and let's keep our minds positive.”
Washington State countered and tied the game in the top half of the second and tied the game on Michael Weber's two-run shot over the right-field fence. The Cougars' offense was halted after the second as Richards limited them to three hits.
Baker finished with a game-high four RBIs and had two of the Sooners' nine hits. A clutch performer in the postseason, Baker also eliminated Vanderbilt in last year's Tempe Regional, a win that placed OU in the regional final.
“Aaron Baker, also up here with me, seems to always be terrific during the postseason,” said Golloway. “He always stands up to the challenge and I thought our whole club did. We have some baseball ahead of us and we are looking forward to continuing to play.”
In the double-elimination format, Arkansas can eliminate Oklahoma from the NCAA tournament with a win Sunday night. Should Oklahoma defeat Arkansas, the Sooners and Razorbacks will play the regional championship game Monday at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
After the five-run seventh inning, the Sooners have hit through the batting order on 23 occasions this season and scored five or more runs in 22 different frames ... Aaron Baker has five home runs in seven NCAA postseason games and has 10 RBIs ... The Sooners have homered in all but 19 games this season and have multiple-homer performances in 20 contests .... OU has won at least two games in each of its last four NCAA appearances.
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