Jay C. Upchurch
4/12/2011, 10:45 PM
Sooners win seventh straight in the series and 13th in the last 15 meetings
NORMAN -- The No. 8 Sooners recorded a big midweek victory with a 13-6 decision over No. 9 TCU on Tuesday in front of 1,898 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The game was the first of two meetings between the Sooners and Horned Frogs and marked the seventh straight win for OU in the series. Oklahoma will travel to Fort Worth on April 26.
“Jim Scholssnagle is an outstanding coach and TCU is a such a good program. We’ve just been fortunate to play well against them, but its such a great rivalry for us,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “We are going to continue playing them and trust me, they are going to be waiting for us when we come down there.”
The Sooners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Ogle and the first of four TCU errors on the night, a failed pickoff play at third base. O
U extended the advantage to four runs in the third inning after TCU scored its first run of the game. Once again in the third, the Sooners took advantage of a Horned Frog error and also scored on an RBI double by Cameron Seitzer and an RBI single from Garrett Buechele.
Oklahoma tacked on three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and then had a four-run eighth inning on Tanner Toal’s lone at-bat of the game that resulted in two errors charged to TCU.
The Sooners’ starting pitcher, Jordan John, recorded six strikeouts in his three innings on the mound. John improved to 3-0 in the predetermined start. Bobby Shore also returned to the mound for the first time since April 2 vs. Texas Tech. Shore tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with one hit and four strikeouts.
Ogle led the Sooners in at the plate, with his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning and also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the first. Casey Johnson also drove in two runs off a hit and two walks in the leadoff spot.
The Sooner offense, which had double-digit hits for the seventh time in the last nine games, handed TCU starter Erik Miller (1-6) the loss.
“Our lineup was a little different than it has been,” said Golloway. “But it needed to be after being shutout on Friday in Manhattan, Kansas in Big 12 play and then only scoring two runs on Sunday. So we needed to change it up.
“The reason we led off Casey Johnson is he was really good this past weekend. He’s a guy that’s really starting to make a little surge here late and we need that. He’s a guy that gives us solid at-bats and he did that in the leadoff spot. And I think he got all of our guys going.”
This weekend, OU tangles again with in-state rival No. 18 Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series, presented Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Friday’s game will be held at OneOK Field in Tulsa at 7:35 p.m. and games two and three are set for Redhawks Field in Oklahoma City (7:05 p.m. and 4:05 p.m.).
“We took care of business tonight and we are looking forward to this weekend,” added Golloway.
For more information on OU baseball, visit www.SoonerSports.com.
NORMAN -- The No. 8 Sooners recorded a big midweek victory with a 13-6 decision over No. 9 TCU on Tuesday in front of 1,898 fans at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The game was the first of two meetings between the Sooners and Horned Frogs and marked the seventh straight win for OU in the series. Oklahoma will travel to Fort Worth on April 26.
“Jim Scholssnagle is an outstanding coach and TCU is a such a good program. We’ve just been fortunate to play well against them, but its such a great rivalry for us,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. “We are going to continue playing them and trust me, they are going to be waiting for us when we come down there.”
The Sooners jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Ogle and the first of four TCU errors on the night, a failed pickoff play at third base. O
U extended the advantage to four runs in the third inning after TCU scored its first run of the game. Once again in the third, the Sooners took advantage of a Horned Frog error and also scored on an RBI double by Cameron Seitzer and an RBI single from Garrett Buechele.
Oklahoma tacked on three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and then had a four-run eighth inning on Tanner Toal’s lone at-bat of the game that resulted in two errors charged to TCU.
The Sooners’ starting pitcher, Jordan John, recorded six strikeouts in his three innings on the mound. John improved to 3-0 in the predetermined start. Bobby Shore also returned to the mound for the first time since April 2 vs. Texas Tech. Shore tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with one hit and four strikeouts.
Ogle led the Sooners in at the plate, with his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning and also drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the first. Casey Johnson also drove in two runs off a hit and two walks in the leadoff spot.
The Sooner offense, which had double-digit hits for the seventh time in the last nine games, handed TCU starter Erik Miller (1-6) the loss.
“Our lineup was a little different than it has been,” said Golloway. “But it needed to be after being shutout on Friday in Manhattan, Kansas in Big 12 play and then only scoring two runs on Sunday. So we needed to change it up.
“The reason we led off Casey Johnson is he was really good this past weekend. He’s a guy that’s really starting to make a little surge here late and we need that. He’s a guy that gives us solid at-bats and he did that in the leadoff spot. And I think he got all of our guys going.”
This weekend, OU tangles again with in-state rival No. 18 Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series, presented Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Friday’s game will be held at OneOK Field in Tulsa at 7:35 p.m. and games two and three are set for Redhawks Field in Oklahoma City (7:05 p.m. and 4:05 p.m.).
“We took care of business tonight and we are looking forward to this weekend,” added Golloway.
For more information on OU baseball, visit www.SoonerSports.com.