March 14, 2008

Box Score: WSU 5, OU 3 |  Photos   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E  WSU 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 9 2  OU 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 11 0  Pitching IP H R ER BB SO  W - Prince (2-0) 5.0 7 2 1 1 2  L - Anderson (1-1)   1.1 4 4 4 0 3  S - Way (1) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1  Batting Leaders AB R H RBI BB 2B  WSU - Coulter 4 1 2 2 1 1  OU - Davis 4 1 3 0 0 0 Sooner Baseball Central Main Page | Ticket Information | Webcasts 2008 OU Baseball Media Guide | 2008 Game Notes Oklahoma Season Statistics | Big 12 Conference | NCAA

NORMAN, Okla. -- Washington State handed OU its first loss of the season at home and ended the Sooners' 11-game winning streak with a 5-3 win on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park.  The Sooners dropped to 14-3 overall while the Cougars improved to 11-4.

"We will look to bounce back tomorrow," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway.  "This is a four-game series and we always tell the team that our goal is to win every series.  So we still have a chance to win this set, but we have to play really well because that is a solid Washington State club."

Oklahoma fell behind early after sophomore starter Chase Anderson (1-1) surrendered two runs in the first inning and two more in the second before giving way to sophomore Jeremy Erben. 

The Cougars handed Anderson his first loss of the year after Jim Murphy's two-run double in the first and Travis Coulter's two-run single in the second.  WSU increased its lead to three runs on Shea Vucinich's RBI double in the third frame.

The Sooners countered Washington State's two-run first inning with sophomore Aaron Baker's RBI double in the bottom half of the inning.  Baker has driven in 13 runs in the last 10 games and had an opportunity to add onto that total in the fifth inning.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Baker drove Jared Prince's pitch deep to the wall in right-center field but instead of extra bases and another RBI with senior Aljay Davis on first base, WSU centerfielder Garry Kuykendall robbed the shot at the wall.

The gap was narrowed in the eighth inning thanks to a wild pitch by Andrew Davis, but OU was unable to rally for the second time this season when trailing after eight innings.  The Sooners stranded two base runners in the eighth inning and one in the ninth as Matt Way earned his first save of the season.

Prince (2-0) lasted five innings in the start for Washington State and allowed one earned run on seven hits and a walk. 

The Sooner bullpen picked up Anderson after a shaky start.  Erben tossed 6 2/3 innings of relief and limited the Cougars to one run off four hits and freshman Mark Guest pitched a scoreless ninth.

Offensively, Davis led OU with three hits and sophomore Bryant Hernandez was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The four-game series resumes on Saturday with a doubleheader slated to begin at 2 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park.  The second game will follow a half hour after the completion of game one.  The first game will be aired live on KOKC 1520 AM following the OU men's basketball game that is set for a 1 p.m. tip off.  Game two will be aired live in its entirety.