Sooners Sweep No. 20 Highlanders; Extend Streak to Seven
OU concludes nine-game home stand with Creighton on Tuesday and Wednesday at 3 p.m.
NORMAN — The Sooners extended their winning streak to seven games with a 2-1 victory over No. 20 UC Riverside on Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Aaron Ivey drove in Jackson Williams with a RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give reliever Heath Taylor his first win at Oklahoma.
The win completes the sweep of the visiting Highlanders and improves OU’s record to 9-4 overall. UC Riverside dropped to 10-6 with the loss.
“This was a great win for our club today to pull off it off in the bottom of the ninth in a dog fight,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “This weekend was very similar to last weekend where we won a close ball game and also had a convincing victory. We knew Riverside was not going to go away without a fight today. They are way too good of a ball club to beat three days in a row and they proved that today.”
UC Riverside scored the game’s initial run after Carl Uhl led off the game with a double to left-center field and later scored after a stolen base and passed ball.
In the fifth inning, Aaron Reza stepped up to the plate for his second hit of the day, a RBI single plating Aljay Davis and tying the game at one run apiece.
The Sooners and Highlanders were knotted at seven hits each at the conclusion of the contest as both staffs received stellar outings on the mound.
OU’s Brad Burns delivered another solid outing on the mound for his second straight start. Burns limited UCR to one unearned run on six hits and two walks through 5 1/3 innings pitched. Burns also struck out four batters and has 10 strikeouts in his last two starts spanning 11 innings of work.
For UC Riverside, left-hander Dan Runzler lasted the distance and was equally impressive with 8 1/3 innings of allowing seven hits and two runs. Runzler struck out five Sooners and walked four in the hard fought loss, his fourth of the year (0-4).
Heath Taylor (1-0) relieved Brad Burns in the sixth inning and after a strong outing on Friday against the Highlanders, the left-hander picked up right where he left off. Taylor struck out four and surrendered one hit in 3 2/3 innings on Sunday. During Friday’s outing, Taylor did not allow a hit and recorded seven strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings of relief.
“Brad was terrific today. His team wasn’t able to score runs but he did his job and kept the opponent at bay,” said Golloway. “Heath came in and did the same and that gave our club the confidence to come back and win this ball game late.”
OU’s offense did not continue its recent trend of pounding the opposition offensively, but still managed enough runs and hits to top the No. 20 ranked team in the country according to Baseball America. The Sooners finished the series with 27 runs off 32 hits while holding the Highlanders to 11 runs off 19 hits.
For the third consecutive game, Aaron Reza led the Sooners at the plate. Since his return, the Sooners are 7-0 and Reza is hitting .520 in that span. On Sunday, Reza finished 2-for-3 with the RBI single in the fifth inning. Joining Reza with a multiple-hit performance was Ivey, who finished 2-for-3 with the game-winning RBI.
Joe Dunigan, Aaron Baker and Joseph Hughes all finished the game with one hit each. Baker’s single in the fourth inning extended the freshman’s hitting streak to 13 games.
The Sooners will conclude the current nine-game home stand with two games in the middle of next week. OU will host Creighton in a two-game set on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games are slated to begin at 3 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
For more information on OU baseball, visit www.soonersports.com.
OU SID
