Wise Lifts Sooners Over Aggies
May 15, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 13 Sooners hit three home runs en route to a 6-5 victory over No. 16 Texas A&M during Friday’s series opener in front of 1,236 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The win was the 500th of head coach Sunny Golloway’s career and improved OU’s overall mark to 38-16 and to 15-10 in Big 12 play. With two regular season games left to play, the Sooners are in third place in the conference standings behind Kansas State (14-9-1) and ahead of Missouri (16-11) and Texas A&M (14-11). “We’ve told our guys all year that five was the number. “If we can keep them to five or less and we can score five or more, we’ll win,” said Golloway who is 165-94-1 at OU. Andrew Doyle (7-4) tossed seven innings and out pitched Brooks Raley, who dropped just his second game of the year in 13 starts. Raley entered Friday’s game with four home runs allowed in 84 1/3 innings but surrendered three to the Big 12’s leading offense in the first five frames. Doyle battled windy conditions throughout most of the contest with five strikeouts after walking four batters and giving up six hits. “You just have to figure out a way to give your team a chance to win and not get caught up in the elements,” said Doyle. “You just had to buckle down and make pitches.” Texas A&M also showed some power on Friday night with four home runs of its own. Three of the shots came off Doyle in first four frames and four of the Aggies’ runs came with two outs on the board. The Sooners countered with five two-out RBIs as clutch hitting proved to be the key to Friday night’s game. “Getting guys on base was the difference,” said Bryant Hernandez, who hit his 11th home of the season in the third inning. “We did a good job at the plate.” Jamie Johnson gave OU an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first after leading off the frame with a solo home run. The leadoff bomb marked the fifth time this season that Johnson led off a game by clearing the fences and the eighth of his career. Texas A&M quickly countered in the top of the second with a pair of solo home runs from Kyle Colligan and Kevin Gonzalez. The long ball came into play again in the bottom of the third on Bryant Hernandez’s three-run blast, his 11th of the year. Down 4-2, the Aggies rallied again and received another home run off Gonzalez’s bat, this time a two-run shot that tied the game at four runs apiece. After Wise, who is tied for the Big 12 lead with 17 homers, crushed the go-ahead home run in the fifth, Texas A&M mounted a rally with a solo homer by Luke Anders in the eighth. The two teams combined for 10 runs in the first five frames, but Anders’ home run was the only run scored after the fifth inning. Alex Wilson held OU to one hit in relief out of the Texas A&M bullpen. J.R. Robinson retired the first two batters he faced in relief of Doyle, but gave up the last run of the game. Jeremy Erben recorded the final out of the eighth and Duke closed out the game for the Sooners with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, including two strikeouts. Duke is tied for the Big 12 lead with Texas' Austin Wood.
  
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