Sooners Drop Series Opener at Kansas State

April 8, 2011

Kansas State 2, Oklahoma 0
Box Score

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

Pitching	IP	H	R	E	BB	SO
W - Hunter (3-2)	7.2	4	0	0	3	2
L - Rocha (7-1)	6.0	4	2	1	3	3
S - Allen (9)	1.1	1	0	0	0	2

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Ogle	3	0	1	0	1	0
KSU - Brown	2	1	2	1	1	0

Notes
Garrett Buechele extended his hitting streak to a season-high 12 games with a single in the first inning ... Buechele has 20 hits and 16 RBIs in that streak ... The Wildcats have won the series opener in five out of the last six years ... Michael Rocha lasted at least seven innings with at least five strikeouts in every game this season until tonight.

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MANHATTAN, Kan. – The No. 7 Sooners' five-game winning streak came to an end on Friday as Kansas State recorded a 2-0 victory at Tointon Family Stadium.

The loss dropped Oklahoma's overall mark to 23-7 and 5-4 in Big 12 play, while Kansas State used its first shutout over the Sooners since 1990 to improve to 17-11 and 3-7.

Kyle Hunter received the win for KSU after tossing 7 2/3 innings to improve to 3-2. James Allen recorded his Big 12-leading ninth save of the season.

“They were really good on the mound and controlled the strike zone,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “We hit some balls hard. We hit two balls really hard, I thought, with scoring opportunities, first and second, first and third, and ended up being double-play balls to get them out of the inning. I thought that was the key. Our guys are doing their job, they went up to the plate and hit the ball hard and it just happened to be right at somebody.”

Michael Rocha (7-1) suffered his first loss of the season after lasting a season-low six innings with a season-high three walks. The OU defense also committed four errors in the game, with one leading to the first run of the game in the second. Rocha exited the game without a lead for the first time this season in the seventh inning.

“We have to defend a little better. Even though we had four tonight, I thought we played extremely well,” added Golloway. “The pitching and the defense on our side wasn't the problem. Rocha threw the ball really well tonight. That's what a Friday night guy is going to do, absorb innings.”

Rocha's no-hit bid ended in the fifth inning after KSU already had a 1-0 lead after a Sooner error and two walks in the second. Jake Brown broke up the no-no with an infield single and eventually scored to stake the Wildcats to a 2-0 lead.

The Sooner offense matched KSU with five hits but stranded five base runners and finished 0-for-7 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

Garrett Buechele extended his season-high hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the first while Tyler Ogle, Caleb Bushyhead, Max White and Ricky Eisenberg also has base knocks.

The series resumes on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium. The game can be heard on the Sooner Sports Network, KREF 1400 AM.