Oklahoma 8 – Vanderbilt 5
From CBB News Sources
(Tempe, AZ) – The Oklahoma Sooners (35-24-1) strong play down the stretch carried over to their NCAA Tournament opener against No. 22 Vanderbilt (40-21) at Packard Stadium on Friday. The Sooners, seeded third, topped the second-seeded Commodores, 8-5, behind Andrew Doyle’s ninth win of the season and Mike Gosse’s three-hit, three-RBI outing on his 22nd birthday.
OU fell behind early and trailed 2-1 after the first, but the Sooners’ offense responded with seven runs over the final eight frames. The Sooners connected for 12 hits on the afternoon, keyed by strong performances at the plate by Gosse, Aaron Baker (3-for-4), Casey Johnson (2-for-4, RBI) and Matt Harughty (1-for-3, 2 RBIs).
Andrew Doyle lasted 6 1/3 innings to improve to 9-4 and Chase Anderson recorded his second save of the season as OU will await the winner of Arizona State and Stony Brook to play on Saturday night at 7 p.m. (MST).
“It was a great all-around effort by our club today,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “Mike (Gosse) and Andrew (Doyle) led the way and I thought our coaching staff did a terrific job of scouting Vanderbilt.”
OU jumped on top in the first inning as Jamie Johnson, who reached on an error, came around to score after a walk issued to Aljay Davis moved him to second base and then Mike Gosse’s RBI single to left-center field brought him home. The next batter, Casey Johnson, walked to load the bases but OU was unable to capitalize, recording three straight outs and ending the frame ahead 1-0.
In the bottom of the first, the Commodores countered quickly with two runs in the frame. Ryan Flaherty drove in the first run on a fielder’s choice and Andrew Giobbi gave Vanderbilt the 2-1 lead on his RBI single through the left side.
The Sooners tied things up in the top of the fourth on Matt Harughty’s sacrifice fly to center field. The second out of the inning pushed across Aljay Davis, who began the frame by extending his hitting streak to 14 games on a single to left. Davis advanced to third on Gosse’s single through the right side and an error on right fielder Dominica de la Osa.
Oklahoma regained the lead in the top of the fifth on J.T. Wise’s fielder’s choice that was nearly resulted in a double play ball but instead scored Davis from third base.
In the top of the sixth, the Sooners chased Vandy starter Caleb Cotham (7-6) out of the game as the hurler surrendered four runs in the frame and before he recorded two outs.
Aaron Baker started the big inning with a single up the middle and quickly moved to third on Bryant Hernandez’s double down the left-field line. Harughty drove in his second run of the game and brought home Baker on a single to right. Jamie Johnson followed a ball hit to second base that resulted in a base hit and a run scored and also allowed Harughty to beat the force play at second. Gosse and Casey Johnson capped off the scoring in the sixth with a sacrifice fly and RBI single up the middle, respectively, before Cotham left the game trailing 7-2.
After a rough first inning where he faced seven batters, Doyle settled down to face just two batters over the minimum over the next five innings. Doyle ran into trouble in the seventh after allowing an RBI single to Jonathan White and a two-run homer to David Macias. After Vandy cut the lead to 7-5, Doyle finished the day with 6 1/3 innings of work and was relieved by Chase Anderson.
Gosse provided OU with some extra insurance and an 8-5 lead with a solo homer in the top of the eighth. The three-run cushion gave Anderson some breathing room to cruise through the final eight outs and his second save in the last four appearances.
Game Notes:
Friday’s victory marked the fourth in time in the last five games that OU has defeated a top 25 opponent (Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Missouri and Vandy) … Mike Gosse snapped out of an 0-for-15 slump with an RBI single in the first inning … The base hit ended Gosse’s longest slump of the season … The Sooners’ double play in the second inning marked the ninth straight game they have turned two and OU has 16 in that span after turning another in the fourth … Aljay Davis has 20 hits during his career-high 14-game hitting streak and has hit safely in 22 of the last 23 games (36 hits) … Andrew Doyle’s 6 1/3 innings today marked the ninth time this season that one of his 15 starts have lasted six or more innings … Aaron Baker’s multi-hit streak continued on Friday with his fifth straight outing with two or more hits … Baker has 11 hits in the last five games … OU is 67-58 lifetime in the NCAA Tournament and 21-10 in the opening game of its 31 NCAA Appearances … The Sooners and Commodores have met on four occasions and Friday’s game was the first meeting in the postseason … The overall series is tied at two games apiece … Friday’s win marked the 17th comeback of the season for Oklahoma and the 63rd under head coach Sunny Golloway at the Sooners’ helm … Golloway has 126 wins at OU since taking over at the end of the 2005 season.
(Tempe, AZ) – Oklahoma broke open a 3-2 game with four runs in the sixth en route to an 8-5 win over Vanderbilt in the opening game of the Tempe Regional Friday afternoon at Packard Stadium.
The Commodores (40-21) fall into the loser’s bracket where they will face the loser of tonight’s Arizona State-Stony Brook contest tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MT.
The Sooners (35-24-1) will take on the winner of the above contest tomorrow night at 9 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT.
OU starter Andrew Doyle allowed five runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings of work with two walks and two strikeouts in the winning effort to improve to 9-4 on the year. Chase Anderson pitched 2.2 innings of two-hit scoreless relief to pick up his second save of the year.
Vanderbilt had a 2-1 lead after three, but Oklahoma scored a run in the fourth and another in the fifth before pushing through four in the sixth to take a commanding 7-2 lead.
Aaron Baker led off the sixth with a single and moved to third on a double down the left field line by Bryant Hernandez. Matt Harughty singled in a run, Jamie Johnson had a RBI fielder’s choice, Mike Gosse added a sacrifice fly RBI and Casey Johnson closed the inning with a RBI single.
The Commodores rallied for three runs in the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-5. Alex Feinberg singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a groundout by Shea Robin. Jonathan White then singled home Feinberg to break a five inning scoreless streak. David Macias capped off the scoring with a two-run homer to right, his ninth round tripper of the year.
Gosse homered to right to push the lead up to 8-5 in the eighth and the Commodores could not cut it any closer as they dropped the opening game in the NCAA tourney for the first time in four appearances (1980).
“It affected the outcome of the game but it didn’t determine the game,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said about the sixth inning. We still got two runs out of it. I thought we had some momentum, at least until the point to where we could come back and capitalize the next inning. We really didn’t. Once that inning was over, until the seventh, we didn’t get anything going.”
Oklahoma took advantage of a throwing error by shortstop Ryan Flaherty in the top of the first to score an unearned run. Lead off batter Jamie Johnson reached on the error and Aljay Davis walked before Mike Gosse’s RBI single plated the first run of the game. Casey Johnson then walked to load the bases with no outs off of VU starter Caleb Cotham. He settled down to retire the next three batters in order to end the threat.
VU plated two runs in the bottom half to take a 2-1 lead. David Macias and Dominic de la Osa led off with a singles and Pedro Alvarez followed with a walk to load the bases. Ryan Flaherty’s RBI grounder scored Macias and Andrew Giobbi’s RBI single scored de la Osa to put the Dores ahead 2-1.
The Sooners tied the game up in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Matt Harughty. Jarod Freeman singled to left and Aaron Baker was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Bryant Hernandez bunted the runners over before Harughty’s fly ball to center field.
OU took a 3-2 lead in the fifth scoring an unearned run on a RBI groundout by J.T. Wise. Aljay Davis singled to left to lead off the inning and Gosse followed with a single to right that Dominic de la Osa bobbled allowing Davis to move to third. After a strikeout, Wise then hit a sharp grounder to short to bring in Davis.
Cotham (7-6) gave up seven runs, five earned, on nine hits in 5.2 innings with three strikeouts and three walks in the losing effort.
“I felt pretty good,” said Cotham when asked about how he felt on the mound. “I just tried to compete and battle. I tried to get some balls in some holes. I left it all out there so I can’t really complain.”
David Macias led the Commodores with three hits on the day, with Ryan Flaherty, Andrew Giobbi and Jonathan White adding two hits each.
“We’re ready to go tomorrow,” said Macias. “There is still another ball game. We’re not thinking about going to the losers’ bracket. We’re still taking it one game at a time.”
