Baseball Edged in Series Finale

Missouri 12, No. 12 OU 11 | Box Score (PDF) | Photos

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
MU	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	12	11	2
OU	0	0	1	5	2	3	0	0	0	11	14	0

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Rocha (4-1)	3.2	2	2	2	0	1
L - Emens (2-2)	4.2	6	3	3	0	0
SV - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - White	5	3	3	3	0	1
MU - Senne	5	2	3	4	0	1

Sooner Baseball Central

Main Page | Ticket Information | Webcasts

2010 OU Baseball Media Guide | 2010 Game Notes

Oklahoma Season Statistics | Big 12 Conference | NCAA

April 11, 2010

NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 12 Oklahoma was unable to complete the series sweep on Sunday against the visiting Tigers and fell 12-11 at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners won game one and two by scores of 6-4 and 10-4, respectively, and despite out hitting the Tigers 14-11 on Sunday, dropped to 25-7 overall and 5-5 in Big 12 play.

"We made some mistakes and we let one get away," said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. "What's disappointing is the maturity of the whole program. We didn't win a Big 12 title last year because we couldn't finish people off. Now with Nebraska and Missouri, we are guilty of the same things."

The back and forth game was decided in the eighth inning as Aaron Senne punched a solo home run to right field off Michael Rocha (4-1) to break a 11-11 tie.

The Tigers' Jeff Emens (2-2) was credited with the win after tossing the final 4 2/3 innings despite giving up three runs off six hits.

Missouri (18-13, 3-6) struck first for the third time in time in the series with a pair of RBI doubles in the third inning but just like Friday and Saturday, the Sooners battled back and built a significant advantage.

OU chipped away at the lead in the bottom half of the third on a RBI single by Tyler Ogle and appeared to blow the game open after batting through the lineup in the fourth inning with five runs scored. The big frame featured a two-three run homer by Max White, his seventh in just 16 starts, and a two-run shot by Ogle. It marked the 12th time this season OU sent at least nine hitters to the plate in an inning and the 11th with at least five runs scored.

Unfortunately for OU starter Jeremy Erben and the rest of the Sooners, the 6-2 lead did not last as the Tigers duplicated the Sooners' feat and added some extra insurance as 13 hitters went to the plate and scored eight runs. Nine of the 11 runs were credited to Erben as the senior's first start in nearly two years ended after 4 1/3 innings.

"I really feel bad, Erben has picked up so many guys coming out of that bullpen and today he needed someone to pick him up," added Golloway. "Not one guy was able to do it."

The bullpen has been a strength for the Sooners all season long, but that wasn't the case on Sunday as Jason Chowning walked the only hitter he faced, Ryan Gibson walked two and gave up a RBI single and Rocha gave up the decisive run. Ryan Duke made his 13th appearance of the season in the ninth and retired side in order.

Offensively, White continues to tear the cover off the ball for the Sooners in the leadoff spot. White added three more hits and three more RBIs to his total on Sunday. In the last four games as OU's leadoff hitter, White is 8-for-14 with two home runs and six RBIs.

Chris Ellison and Ogle each collected two hits on Sunday as the Sooners tied a season-high with three home runs and had their best outing in terms of hits in a Big 12 game in 2010 with 14.

The first of four games in the Bedlam Series, presented by the Oklahoman and Oklahoma Farm Bureau, kicks off on Tuesday, April 13 in Stillwater at 6:30 p.m. OU and OSU will be meeting in a non-conference game and it marks the first contest on a campus site between the two since 1996. The series moved to a three-game set at neutral sites when the Big 12 Conference was formed in 1997.

Next Event

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics